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GIRL AND WOMAN 



GIRL AND WOMAN 

A BOOK FOR MOTHERS 
AND DAUGHTERS 



BY 

CAROLINE WORMELEY LATIMER, M.D., M.A. 

FORMERLY INSTRUCTOR IN BIOLOGY 
WOMAN'S COLLEGE OF BALTIMORE 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 

HOWARD A. KELLY, M.D. 

PROFESSOR OF GYNECOLOGICAL SURGERY 
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY 




NEW YORK AND LONDON" 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

1910 



«<* 






Copyright, 1909, by 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 



Published November, 1909 



• ©CU251835 



TO THE MEMORY OF 

I. E. A. 

THE FRIEND WHOSE SYMPATHY, COUNSEL, 

AND ENCOURAGEMENT 

HAVE BEEN MY LIFE'S BEST INFLUENCE, 

WHILE HIS BELIEF IN THE POSSIBILITIES WITHIN MY REACH 

REMAINS MY STRONGEST STIMULUS 

TO EXERTION. 



PREFACE 

We have recently awakened to the fact that the 
most important period in life as regards the forma- 
tion of character, instead of being the first decade 
as always supposed, is really the years between child- 
hood and maturity. But although the attention of 
parents and guardians is now focussed upon this sea- 
son as one of supreme importance, especially as re- 
gards girls, the sources of information concerning 
it are few and far between. Aside from Dr. Stan- 
ley Hall's monumental work, the size and extent of 
which somewhat restrict its field of usefulness, all 
information upon the subject of girlhood is sparsely 
scattered over a wide territory of periodical litera- 
ture, much of it being contained in psychological and 
pedagogical journals or similar places remote from 
the main-traveled road familiar to the general reader. 
Moreover, these articles are commonly written by 
specialists in language which requires some interpre- 
tation. 

To make this mass of scattered and semi-technical 
information available to the public at large, it re- 
quired to be reviewed and sifted, in order that the main 
facts, as well as the more important of the views 



viii PREFACE 

and ideas suggested by them, could be presented in a 
simple and compact form, easy of assimilation by 
those most nearly concerned. The preception of this 
want has led to the preparation of this little volume, 
which, it is hoped, may place the valuable results ob- 
tained through the labors of thoughtful minds at 
the service of many who lack time or opportunity 
to seek them along the bye-paths of specialized lit- 
erature. No pains have been spared to make the 
investigation complete and to seek authority at the 
fountain head. 

It is with great pleasure that I avail myself of 
this opportunity to acknowledge the kindness shown 
me by friends in the course of my work. To Pro- 
fessor W. H. Howell of the Johns Hopkins Medical 
School I am indebted for council and suggestion con- 
cerning the first four chapters and to Dr. Elizabeth 
Hurdon, Assistant in Gynecology in the same Uni- 
versity for criticism of the fifth chapter. 

But most especially my thanks are due to Dr. 
Howard A. Kelly for the interest he has taken in my 
work and for his kindness in allowing my little book 
to enter the world under his protection. The service 
he has rendered me in this instance is but one of many 
helpful actions, each of which forms a rivet in a 
friendship which is one of my most valued posses- 
sions. 

Caroline Wormeley Latimer, M.D. 

Baltimore, June 22, 1909. 



INTRODUCTION 

I am glad that Dr. Latimer has undertaken to 
write this much needed work addressed to women at 
large, and conveying a mass of useful information in 
language free from technicalities. I am of opinion 
that such instruction as is here given, with proper 
reserve as to special functions, is wiser than that 
conveyed in many of the popular cheap books touch- 
ing upon these hitherto forbidden subjects. 

A few centuries have wrought great changes in 
our views upon the training of women. But three 
hundred years ago the ordering of a girl's life was 
a matter of interest to nobody and the world at large 
agreed with Thomas Fuller of that time that " Daugh- 
ters are silent strings sending no sound to posterity 
and losing their identity in their husbands." But 
this view-point is altogether changed, and the thought- 
ful, conscientious parent to-day holds a daughter's 
education, in the widest sense, as no less important 
than a son's. It is only of recent years, however, that 
we have begun to recognize in girlhood a distinct 
period in life with characteristic demands and neces- 
sities. How much we have neglected this critical age 
may be gathered from a glance over Poole's Index 



x INTRODUCTION 

of Periodical Literature for the last ten years, where 
the titles of papers dealing with either childhood or 
womanhood fill several pages, while those devoted to 
girlhood as a separate and distinct stage in life occupy 
only a few lines. During the last year or two of the 
decade, however, the articles on girlhood steadily 
increase in number, a significant change, which is 
due to the fact that the psychologists have recently 
devoted much attention to adolescence, and the in- 
terest thus aroused has extended to the public. 

Psychological research has made it plain that no 
period in a woman's life is so important to herself or 
so full of interest to her natural guardians as the 
transition years of development from childhood to 
womanhood, and it has also shown that her evolu- 
tion, instead of being extremely brief, as was sup- 
posed, is really a process of slow and gradual unfold- 
ing of both body and mind, occupying all the years 
between twelve and twenty-one. Another fact lately 
made evident is that the impressibility of this period 
of life is greater than any other, for the mind is more 
susceptible to influence, and the moral nature more 
plastic than at any subsequent time, while the indi- 
vidual sense of right and wrong becomes clearer than 
at an earlier age. For these reasons the principles in- 
stilled into a girl's mind at this critical stage of her 
life's journey are of paramount importance. There 
are two supreme objects to be kept in view at this 



INTRODUCTION xi 

period: first, that she shall pass through its changes 
in a natural, happy, and healthful manner; and sec- 
ond, that her training shall be such as to fit her for 
the serious burdens of the years that are to follow 
when she must shoulder the cares and responsibilities 
of life. The burning question with those interested 
in securing her health and happiness is the best means 
of arriving at the desired end, and here there are 
still some differences of opinion. 

In the days of our grandmothers custom decreed 
the formal separation of the sexes almost from baby- 
hood, and all pursuits, work, and pleasures advanced 
along different lines, planned to fit the boy to cope 
with the world and fight his own battles, while the 
girl, who was no warrior, received no definite train- 
ing and lived restrained within the narrow limits of 
her natural physical activities. A generation ago we 
awakened to the discovery that physical freedom and 
activity are as good and as necessary for a little 
girl as for a little boy, and that the principles of 
elementary education which produced the best results 
with boys succeeded equally well with girls. This il- 
luminating idea at once deferred the separation of the 
sexes until adolescence, but as it was then still enforced 
bodily freedom for a girl ended in most cases 
with childhood, while her mental training was much 
less thorough than that of her brother. 

To-day we hold that a system which condemns 



xii INTRODUCTION 

outdoor life and activities as unwomanly, and sac- 
rifices sound learning for mere drawing-room ac- 
complishments is fundamentally wrong. We have, 
therefore, changed our tactics and proceeded to give 
girls the same advantages as boys, both physically and 
mentally. The one point now at issue is this : Is a 
girl best fitted for life by precisely the same training 
as a boy, or is some modification desirable in con- 
formity with the elementary difference of sex? 

I think that those who say : " Let there be no 
difference whatever," fail to give sufficient weight 
to the issues involved and overlook the fact that when 
boys and girls reach puberty the fundamental dif- 
ference between them, hitherto latent, asserts itself 
openly and emphatically and cannot henceforth be 
ignored without serious consequences to the proper 
development and sound health of both body and mind 
in the girl. The establishment of puberty in itself is 
always a strain upon the physical and mental forces, 
often severe enough to affect the general health or 
the central nervous system. For both sexes puberty 
is a period requiring especial care and watchfulness 
and when it is over, and the fundamental differences 
between the sexes are fully established, the function 
of menstruation with its cyclical changes and their de- 
mands upon the nervous system continues to call for 
consideration in young women. Few girls or women 
can treat this function with entire disregard, except at 



INTRODUCTION xiii 

their peril. I do not say that the menstrual periods 
ought seriously to interrupt the routine of daily life 
in a healthy girl, and any manifest invalidism may 
be accepted as evidence of depressed health. But un- 
due exertion, prolonged and repeated, at such times 
almost inevitably results in an exhaustion of the nerv- 
ous system, manifested, sooner or later, by excessive 
periodical suffering or by some more general dis- 
turbance. 

To illustrate this fact take the athletic sports now 
so general for girls. A boy who plays on his team 
at school or college is under no necessity for heeding 
the times and seasons of his games, being as fit to play 
one day as another, but almost every girl, under like 
conditions, must consider a regularly recurring inter- 
val when her nervous force is so taxed by the demands 
of her economy that the excessive effort demanded by 
the game places her at a disadvantage for the moment, 
beside exposing her to the risk of lasting ill effects, 
even so great as life-long invalidism. Some strong 
vigorous girls do sometimes play tennis, basket-ball, 
and hockey at such times with impunity, but no girl 
can risk the strain of a match game without danger of 
suffering from it sooner or later, not only because of 
the extreme bodily effort, but because of the nervous 
tension arising from the excitement of competition 
together with the emotional disturbance inevitably at- 
tending- success or defeat. 



xiv INTRODUCTION 

Excessive nervous strain is, in fact, the key to the 
whole situation and we find that the sex limit im- 
posed by means of it is as definite on the intellectual 
side of life as it is in the sphere of the body. The 
present system of education for women, with all its 
improvements, has the defects of its qualities in its 
ever insistent emulation and competition with their 
resultant tension and excitement. An ambitious girl 
with examinations awaiting her during the menstrual 
period is exposed to risks similar to those of the ath- 
letic field and is under the same disadvantages as com- 
pared with her brother. But while there are many 
who realize the dangers of physical over-exertion dur- 
ing menstruation, few seem alive to the, perhaps, 
greater risks of mental high pressure at such times 
and at an age when the emotional nature is most ex- 
citable. 

To my mind these observations teach us that a 
woman's physical well-being, under existing social 
conditions, depends largely upon her willingness to ac- 
quiesce in those moderate and proper restrictions im- 
posed by nature upon her sex. I have used examina- 
tions and athletic sports simply as a means to illus- 
trate my position, which is : first, that a woman must 
avoid excessive effort of body or mind during the 
menstrual periods and that if she neglects this salutary 
precaution her health will suffer in the long run; 
second, that this fact, of necessity, prevents her from 



INTRODUCTION xv 

standing on a perfect equality with a man engaged in 
the same occupations. Just what precautions are 
called for must be determined according to the con- 
ditions in each individual case ; this question is fully 
discussed in one of Dr. Latimer's chapters. We may 
draw one general conclusion, however, which is that 
while experience has shown that girls are in every 
way better for the removal of artificial restrictions 
upon their activities, it is also plain that any attempt 
to treat the restrictions imposed by Nature as though 
they did not exist, results, as a rule, in harm to body 
and mind. 

Some of the partisans of exact uniformity in the 
training of the sexes who are unwilling to admit any 
necessity for caution whatever, point with conviction 
to a certain proportion of women who are able to 
disregard the menstrual function without suffering 
for doing so. But this argument overlooks the chief 
difficulty, which is that the mischief done by the 
neglect of a periodical conservation of the forces does 
not usually show itself immediately and may take the 
form of some disturbance of a general character. In- 
discreet and prolonged exertion during the periods, 
during a series of years, may be a factor of im- 
portance in the production of nervous prostration, 
though the causal link in the chain may have long 
since disappeared. 

But, in my opinion, the greatest harm done by an 



xvi INTRODUCTION 

education which teaches a girl to regard her sphere in 
life as identical with that of a boy is that by sugges- 
tion or implication it encourages her to despise the 
duties belonging to her sex by right of Nature, there- 
by striking at the roots of her real happiness. It is 
not that a woman is in any sense whatever inferior 
to a man, but that her sphere is a different and a com- 
plementary one. A man and a woman each does 
many things that the other cannot do, but in their re- 
spective spheres how distinct, how different they are! 
The very best our civilization has yet offered has been 
the higher education of our daughters. But the the- 
ory that public offices and public works are as much 
the business of a woman as of a man, holding pub- 
lic claims as more honorable and more worthy of at- 
tention than those of the home, is injurious alike to 
women and to the public they desire to serve. 
Philanthropic occupations are of paramount im- 
portance under certain conditions, and the woman 
who does not marry often finds in them her vocation 
and her salvation from the narrow, gossiping ex- 
istence once the lot of the old maid. These activities, 
however, must ever be of secondary importance to the 
married woman. The woman who devotes herself 
exclusively to outside interests, I believe, contributes 
less to life and gets less from it than she whose ac- 
tivities lie mainly or wholly in the sphere of the home. 
There exist certain conservatives who, while they 



INTRODUCTION xvii 

fully appreciate the limitations imposed by the differ- 
ence of sex and the importance of the claims upon 
women in her own peculiar sphere, are sometimes apt 
to do our girls an injustice from an entirely op- 
posite point of view. These people incline to the 
notion that if a girl marries she not only does not 
need, but may be actually hurt by more than an 
elementary education; while, on the other hand, they 
admit that, should she remain single, it is well that her 
mind should be cultivated extensively in order to open 
up numerous avenues of interest and activity. If 
this idea were rational, the difficulties consequent upon 
it would be serious indeed, since girls cannot be di- 
vided at birth into queens and workers like bee larvae. 
Fortunately, the difficulty, when squarely faced, dis- 
appears. Data thus far collected touching higher ed- 
ucation for women show that learning in itself does 
not interfere, but rather adds to a girl's usefulness 
as a wife or mother, nor does college wisdom, as 
Matthew Arnold expressed it, " affect her chances " 
of matrimony. And it is surely but a shallow con- 
ception of the marriage state which holds that there 
is no room in it for knowledge and a diversity of in- 
terests. A healthier, saner view is that which holds 
that whatever develops a girl's faculties and broadens 
her outlook upon life makes her better fitted for her 
work in the world, whether that work is ultimately 
carried on in the single or the married state, and that 



xviii INTRODUCTION 

the more cultivation, the more information, the wider 
the interests a woman brings to bear upon her inter- 
course with her husband and her children the more en- 
nobling and elevating are their mutual relationships. 
Finally, I desire to repeat, that the sum of what I 
have been saying is this: In their practical, daily, 
human relations the sexes are never precisely alike 
except during the earliest years of childhood. For 
the first ten years of life a boy and a girl may be 
looked upon and treated as identical, though even 
then the foreshadowing of the coming changes are al- 
ways visible to keen eyes. But with the approach of 
puberty the fundamental differences, everywhere 
stamped upon the sexes in nature, become sharply de- 
fined and the breach thus made widens with the suc- 
ceeding years until maturity finds the man and the 
woman two distinct entities, complementary in all 
their future relations. It is the office of the wise 
physician, as well as of the philanthropist and of the 
educator, not to minimize but to recognize these dif- 
ferences and to lead young women wisely into the 
paths designed for them. The book before us is a 
notable effort in this direction. 

Howard A. Kelly, M.D. 
Baltimore, June, 1909. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 

I.— Physical Disturbances of Girlhood 
II.— Mental Disturbances of Girlhood 
III.— Moral Disturbances of Girlhood . 

IV. — Reproduction 

V.— Menstruation 

VI. — Sexual Knowledge 

VII.— Bodily Functions— Exercise— Sleep 

Vin.— Personal Hygiene 

IX. — Daily Life During School Days 
X. — Daily Life on Leaving School . . 
XL— Minor Ailments ....•„. 



PAGE 

1 

24 

55 

n 
100 

138 
158 
201 
234 
263 
290 



GIRL AND WOMAN 

CHAPTER I 

PHYSICAL DISTURBANCES OF GIRLHOOD 

General considerations — Changes in the bones and mus- 
cles — Curvature of the spine — Changes in the heart and 
arteries — Blushing — Anemia ■ — Chlorosis — Changes in 
the lungs and thorax — Changes in the skin — Eruptions 

— Changes in Digestion — Appetite — Teeth — ■ Changes in 
the organs of special sense — Voice — Smell — Hearing 

— Vision — Changes in the nervous system — Chorea — 
Stammering — Sick headache — Neurasthenia — Epilepsy 

— Conclusion. 

The period of a girl's passage from childhood to 
womanhood is characterized by changes of the most 
radical and far-reaching description. Up to this time 
her development, both of body and mind, has been 
steady and uniform, following definite lines and not 
subject to sudden checks or advances. Now she 
reaches a point when a hitherto dormant force awak- 
ens within her, in response to which she enters upon 
a phase of what has been called tumultuous grozvth. 

The impulse to activity, now making itself felt for 



2 GIRL AND WOMAN 

the first time, proceeds from the great elemental in- 
stinct, sex, which is henceforward to be one of the 
most powerful agencies in her life. The central fea- 
ture of this period is, therefore, the development of 
the reproductive organs and of the functions con- 
nected with them, but associated with these primary 
changes are secondary ones, both mental and physical, 
which extend their influence in all directions. Al- 
most every organ and system in the body begins to 
grow with startling rapidity though at different rates 
of speed, so that relative proportions are everywhere 
changed, sometimes permanently, in other cases for 
the time being. The mind, and even more the emo- 
tions, show evidence of change to a marked degree, the 
character develops, the moral sense begins to act in- 
dependently, the perceptions become more acute, the 
susceptibilities more active, until finally, in the space 
of a few brief years, the child has disappeared and a 
woman, in whom, perhaps, not a trace of the child 
remains, occupies her place. 

It is needless to say that this period of life is one 
of supreme importance in a woman's life. Not only 
her immediate well-being but her well-being in the 
future depend upon the manner in which she passes 
through it. The phase of development in itself, how- 
ever, is perfectly natural, and the changes incident to 
it are only such as lead naturally to a normal woman- 
hood. 



PHYSICAL DISTURBANCES 3 

Next to the sexual changes, which will be discussed 
elsewhere, the most striking feature is a sudden and 
rapid increase in height and weight, that begins about 
thirteen. The difference in height taking place in the 
course of a few months may be so great as to make 
it seems as if we had to do with a different girl; a 
tremendous interval all at once appears between her 
and the brothers and sisters next to her in the family, 
and she outgrows her wardrobe so fast that it is almost 
impossible to keep her in clothes. This rapid growth 
in height comes to an end (on an average) about fif- 
teen and the final stature is then nearly, if not quite 
complete. It is true that a girl may, and not infre- 
quently does, continue to grow for several years 
longer, but the process is comparatively slow and the 
addition to her height inconsiderable. 

This increase In height is accompanied by an in- 
crease in weight, but not commonly a proportionate 
one, the advance in height being the more rapid of 
the two. With girls this disproportion between 
height and weight is not so marked as with boys, be- 
cause in a girl, the development of the figure and of 
the hips, with all the attendant curves, does a great 
deal to conceal the apparent loss of tissue. There is 
a great deal of difference, however, between individual 
girls in this respect, some of them showing but slight 
signs of womanly development until the period of 
rapid growth is over, when they begin to fill out rap- 



4 GIRL AND WOMAN 

idly; while with others, the womanly changes pro- 
ceed side by side with the increase in stature. 

The basis for all this rapid growth is profound 
changes in the bones and muscles. The rapidity of 
these changes, as we have just said, is not proportion- 
ate, and the disproportion between them is responsible 
for much of the awkwardness and clumsiness of move- 
ment so characteristic of the age. When the long 
bones grow more rapidly than the muscles attached 
to them we have the familiar " growing pains," while 
when the muscles grow faster than the bones there 
is extreme mobility of the joints. The various con- 
tortions of the limbs and of the fingers and toes, 
to which girls of thirteen and fourteen are so much 
addicted, are possible at this time by reason of this 
mobility, which disappears in the course of a few 
years. The power of muscular co-ordination also de- 
velops greatly, so that this is the time when manual 
training in all pursuits or trades requiring dexterity 
and delicacy of touch ought to begin. If it is not 
undertaken until later, when the mobility has dimin- 
ished, the same degree of skill can never be attained, 
but it cannot be carried very far earlier, for the neces- 
sary power of co-ordination between brain and muscle 
is not yet developed. 

A danger belonging especially to this period of 
growth is curvature of the spine. All the bones of 
the body are first formed in cartilage and gradually 



PHYSICAL DISTURBANCES 5 

converted into true bone by the deposit of lime salts, 
a process not entirely complete before the twenty-fifth 
year. While the bones are still largely cartilaginous, 
they are soft enough to yield easily to pressure, a fact 
which is made use of by certain races to produce dis- 
tortions which they consider beautiful. The most fa- 
miliar example of this practice is the foot-binding of 
China, and another is the distortion of the shape of 
the head admired by certain of the North American 
Indians, who produce it by tying bits of board to a 
young child's skull. In early girlhood the spinal col- 
umn is still not fully hardened, and is therefore easily 
affected by pressure. When the period of rapid 
growth begins, the increase in height is often so sud- 
den that a girl finds it hard to hold herself erect and 
is apt to assume slouching, ungainly positions, all the 
more because she feels herself awkward and uncom- 
fortable. Any attitude which throws the spinal col. 
umn out of its normal line, such as standing with the 
weight of the body thrown altogether on one foot, or 
keeping one leg crossed over the other without re- 
versing the position, is likely to cause a curvature of 
the spine. The sitting posture is apt to result in spi- 
nal curvature when the head rests always on the same 
hand while reading, or the body is inclined to the 
right side while writing, both of which attitudes are 
constantly assumed by school girls. Occupations or 
trades which require the continual use of the right 



6 GIRL AND WOMAN 

hand and arm, such, for instance, as dressmaking, 
have the same result,, if girls begin to work at them 
while still quite young. Rightsided lateral curvature 
at about the level of the arm is the result of this par- 
ticular error of position. It is the most common 
of all in the different curvatures, no doubt because 
there are so many occupations which oblige the in- 
cessant use of the right arm and hand; but there are 
other curvatures associated with other faulty atti- 
tudes. The best preventive of this state of things is 
abundance of active physical exercise in the open air, 
as well as the daily use of systematic exercises, either 
at home or in a gymnasium. If a curvature has al- 
ready begun, a great deal can be done to correct it 
by special gymnastic work under trained supervision, 
without resort to mechanical appliances. 

Next to the changes in bone and muscles those in 
the heart and arteries are most significant. In child- 
hood the heart is relatively small and the arteries 
large, but at maturity this state of things has been 
reversed, the difference being caused by increased 
growth on the part of the heart in the years between 
twelve and twenty-five. Not that the arteries cease 
to grow, but they do so more slowly than before, 
while the heart grows faster. With the growth of 
the heart it acquires, of course, additional strength, 
and as the arteries are but little larger, the pres- 
sure of the blood within them is increased; this in- 



PHYSICAL DISTURBANCES 7 

creased pressure resulting in great activity of both 
mind and body, which finds physical expression in a 
craving for movement and muscular action of any 
kind, which it is cruelty to repress. 

The whole circulatory system is in a state of great 
excitability which manifests itself in many different 
ways. Coldness of the hands- and feet from feeble- 
ness of the circulation in the extremities, is quite fre- 
quent and occasionally, though more rarely, there are 
sudden flushes or chills over the whole body. An- 
other disturbance of the circulation especially frequent 
in youth because of the peculiar conditions of the 
period is blushing. The stimulus in the act of blush- 
ing is, of course, a mental one, being the conscious- 
ness of self aroused by some external impression, but 
the impulse thus aroused, transmitted through the 
nervous system to the superficial blood vessels, re- 
sults in a rush of blood to the face. Exactly why 
the face should be the locality affected by the impulse 
has not been satisfactorily explained. We do know, 
however, that blushing is not necessarily confined to 
the face or even to the neck, having been observed, 
in certain cases, to spread over the whole body. 
Youth, as we shall presently see, is a period of in- 
tense self-consciousness, and this fact, together with 
the disturbed condition of the circulation at that time 
of life, explains why blushing is so much more com- 
mon at that time than later in life. 



8 GIRL AND WOMAN 

It sometimes happens that the changes in the blood 
vessels affect the veins as well as the arteries, and 
when this is the case there may be varicose veins of 
the lower extremities, although it is a rare occurrence. 
Bleeding from the nose, which is quite common in 
girlhood, is partly due to the disturbed state of the cir- 
culation and partly to poverty of the blood itself. 

It is not surprising that such significant changes 
in the heart and arteries should sometimes be ac- 
companied by disturbance of the heart's action. As 
a matter of fact, irregularity and palpitation, with 
shortness of breath and a feeble or intermittent pulse, 
are not at all uncommon in young girls. Whenever 
these symptoms occur a doctor ought to be consulted 
and his advice followed implicitly. In the large ma- 
jority of cases there is no disease of the heart, but 
only a physician can determine whether it is absent; 
moreover a girl who shows such symptoms requires 
more hours of rest in the recumbent position than she 
would under ordinary conditions, and it is for a doc- 
tor to decide how many they should be, and also 
what amount of physical exercise is advisable, too 
little being nearly as bad as too much. 

Changes in the composition of the blood itself are 
not uncommon in girlhood. The most frequent of 
these is anemia, or simple poverty of the blood, 
caused by deficiency in the number of red cells of the 
blood or in their capacity to nourish the tissues. This 



PHYSICAL DISTURBANCES 9 

condition is marked by pallor, with great languor 
and disinclination to exertion, both mental and phys- 
ical, quite out of keeping with the usual activity of 
the age. Whenever a girl who has hitherto been 
bright and active, both physically and mentally, begins 
to feel her school work too much for her, and play 
such an effort that she would rather sit still and read 
she is probably anemic, especially if she is losing color. 
But anemia is sometimes present without pallor. 
Headache is a common accompaniment of anemia as 
well as a tendency to hemorrhage, shown usually in 
bleeding from the nose. Sometimes the blood is seen 
to be a lighter red than it should be. Simple anemia 
usually yields readily to treatment, especially iron and 
cod-liver oil. Another condition associated with 
changes in the blood and belonging almost exclusively 
to this period in life, is chlorosis, more commonly 
known as green-sickness. It is so closely connected, 
however, with irregularities of menstruation, which 
are one of its chief symptoms, that it seems better 
to consider it with that subject. 

The vital capacity of the lungs, that is to say, their 
capacity for holding air, increases very much in early 
girlhood. There seems to be some difference of opin- 
ion as to the exact period between twelve and six- 
teen when the increase is most decided, but all ob- 
servers agree that it is greater during these years 
than at any other period of life. This increase in 



io GIRL AND WOMAN 

vital capacity is accompanied, as we should naturally 
suppose, by an increase in the size and weight of the 
lungs, and as the heart is rapidly becoming larger, it 
is plain the circumference of the chest must enlarge 
in order to accommodate the growth of the organs 
within it. As a matter of fact, the ribs do grow rap- 
idly and at the same time harden rapidly from deposit 
of lime salts. They do not become completely ossi- 
fied, however, before twenty, and up to that time 
their shape can be easily modified by pressure, es- 
pecially during the years just following childhood, 
when they are still largely cartilaginous. This fact 
has a most important bearing upon the question of 
girls' clothing. Any considerable constriction around 
the ribs will result in a change of their shape, more 
or less marked according to the degree of pressure 
and the age at which it occurs. It also interferes with 
the development of the lungs and makes them more 
liable to tuberculosis. Tight lacing at this period is 
productive of much more harm than it is later, for 
the whole shape of the thorax may be altered by it. 
There can be no doubt that the digestive organs un- 
dergo important changes during girlhood, but the 
nature of these changes is not clearly understood and 
it would not be profitable to discuss them here. In- 
digestion is not so common in youth as it is in later 
life, and when it does occur is usually of temporary 
duration, provoked by imprudence of diet. But this 



PHYSICAL DISTURBANCES II 

period of life is characterized by striking peculiarities 
of the appetite, which in youth is normally a hearty 
one to meet the demands made by rapid growth; 
sometimes, especially with girls who live in cities, it is 
entirely lost, sometimes it is capricious, and occasion- 
ally actually perverted. This disturbance of appetite 
arises probably from radical changes in the nutrition 
of the body which we do not yet understand. Foods 
formerly disliked now become attractive, and on the 
other hand, those hitherto preferred are now distaste- 
ful. A craving for sweets is quite common, and still 
more one for acids; indeed the latter taste is almost 
always present at some period of girlhood. These 
cravings are the expression of some need associated 
with new processes of growth and necessities of nutri- 
tion. One fancy in particular, which is not by any 
means uncommon, we know can be explained by the 
necessity for lime salts in the growth of the skeleton. 
Bone formation is effected by the deposit of lime salts 
in the pre-formed cartilage, the material for it being 
supplied in the food. The formation of bone tissue 
goes on all through childhood, but with the sudden 
increase of growth in the bones in early youth the 
demand for material becomes suddenly much larger, 
and with it arises a craving for articles that contain 
lime salts, even though they are quite unsuited for 
food. This explains the fancy displayed by some 
young girls for eating chalk, slate pencils, plaster 



12 GIRL AND WOMAN 

from the walls, and similar articles. An excellent 
description of this particular fancy, as well as some 
of the other physiological features of girlhood, has 
been given us by Oliver Wendell Holmes in one of 
his humorous poems : — 

" Now six young damsels slight and frail 

Next claimed this kind young doctor's cares. 
They all were getting thin and pale 

And short of breath on mounting stairs; 
They all made rhymes about sighs and skies 

And loathed their puddings and buttered rolls, 
And dieted — much to their friends' surprise — 

On pickles and pencils and chalk and coals." 

In course of time, when the changes taking place 
in the digestive organs during girlhood are better 
understood than they are to-day, we shall probably 
understand other caprices and cravings. The more 
serious forms of actually perverted appetite, in which 
there is a craving for dirt and other absolutely re- 
pulsive articles, are associated with some mental dis- 
turbance. In the future they also will probably be 
understood, but at present they are among the curios- 
ities of medicine. 

The second set of teeth have appeared before the 
beginning of the period we are now considering, but 
the last four molars, commonly known as wisdom 
teeth, make their appearance between fourteen and 
twenty-five. The size of the jaw in human beings 



PHYSICAL DISTURBANCES 13 

has become so reduced under the use of cooked food 
and other influences of civilization that not infre- 
quently there is difficulty in finding room for these 
belated intruders, and when this happens they may 
give trouble and require attention from a dentist. 

Certain changes in the skin are peculiar to girlhood. 
The sensibility of it is sometimes greatly increased 
and at others diminished. When it is lessened the 
usual perception of pain may be almost lost, and this 
is the reason why girls will occasionally find amuse- 
ment in pricking themselves with pins, in a manner 
startling to older persons. The tactile corpuscles at 
the ends of the fingers, concerned with the sense of 
touch, become more highly developed at this time and 
the perceptions connected with them more acute. This 
increase of tactile perception is one of the reasons why 
manual training is so much more effective at this age. 

Eruptions, especially on the face, are very common 
in girlhood; so much so, in fact, that hardly any girl 
wholly escapes them. Their cause is not altogether 
clear, but probably they are associated to some extent 
with the changes in the circulation, and there is no 
doubt they are often connected with constitutional 
disturbances such as anemia or indigestion. It may 
be because they are so extremely common that such 
eruptions do not always receive the attention they 
deserve. There is a popular impression that they 
ought not to be interfered with and will right them- 



14 GIRL AND WOMAN 

selves if only they are let alone, which is so far true 
that when they are slight or intermittent, they may 
be safely left to time. But any eruption that is even 
moderately severe, or that persists for months at a 
time, should have attention from a skin specialist, if 
possible; or at any rate from a physician. It is true 
that they almost always disappear eventually without 
treatment, but the interval before their spontaneous' 
disappearance may extend over years and in the mean- 
time the surface of the skin is more or less perma- 
nently injured and. the clearness of the complexion 
lost, to say nothing of the mortification and distress 
of mind endured by a sensitive girl. The fact that 
skin troubles are often caused by some constitutional 
difficulty is quite generally recognized, but unfortu- 
nately it is associated with another popular error, 
namely, that the cure of the local disorder will be 
followed by some grave crisis in the constitutional dif- 
ficulty. A common saying in regard to them is that, 
" Whatever it is, is better out than in." This idea is 
altogether without foundation. If there is a consti- 
tutional cause, the skin trouble will not get well, of 
course, until it is cured, but the necessity for finding 
out and removing the underlying difficulty is only an 
additional reason for professional advice. 

There are two excellent and perfectly harmless rem- 
edies for these eruptions at everyone's command. The 
first of these is regulation of the bowels. Almost all 



PHYSICAL DISTURBANCES 15 

skin troubles are associated with constipation and a 
marked improvement nearly always follows its re- 
lief. The other remedy is to wash the face every 
night with water as hot as can be borne and a good 
soap, such, for instance, as white castile. Most skin 
troubles and acne, in particular, which is by far the 
most common of them, are caused by a torpid condi- 
tion of the glands in the skin with deficiency of secre- 
tion, and nothing does so much to relieve this diffi- 
culty as stimulation with heat, moisture, and a good 
soap. 

The organs of special sense undergo certain 'trans- 
formations at the same time as the more general 
changes. The voice with girls, does not undergo the 
marked variations that are present with boys, because 
a girl's larynx does not grow so large, hence the period 
of change in her is not accompanied by the grotesque 
sounds which characterize it in him. But about the 
age of fifteen the girl's childish voice disappears, yield- 
ing quietly and without any distinct epoch of transi- 
tion, to the woman's voice with its higher pitch and 
undefinable quality of sex. 

The sense of smell passes through distinct altera- 
tions of sensibility. Children are extremely insensi- 
tive to odor of any kind; a perfume must be very 
heavy or very penetrating to give them pleasure, while 
on the other hand, a bad smell must be very strong to 
disgust them. But with girlhood the perception of 



16 GIRL AND WOMAN 

odors becomes much keener and the capacity for en- 
joyment or disgust is enlarged. Delicate perfumes 
are more agreeable than heavy ones, and peculiarities 
which formerly were not perceptible now give ex- 
quisite enjoyment. Evil odors, on the other hand, to 
which children are wholly indifferent, become over- 
poweringly disagreeable. This fact is sometimes 
amusingly illustrated by the change of opinion that 
takes place about this time in life as to the attraction 
of a visit to the monkey house at a Zoological Gar- 
den. The little girl, who delighted in it up to the 
age of fourteen or thereabout, will suddenly discover 
that the atmosphere is intolerable, a fact of which, up 
to this time, she was happily unconscious. This in- 
crease of perception is often considered a mere affec- 
tation and girls have to bear more or less ridicule 
in regard to it; but it is really one of the phases 
of normal development, and a girl has no more 
power over it than over the change in her voice, 
or her bones, or her muscles, though the self-conscious- 
ness of the period may sometimes foster it. 

Hearing undergoes little or no change as far as 
acuteness in the perception of sound is concerned, but 
as an avenue for enjoyment it develops greatly. In 
childhood there is usually a complete indifference to 
music, unless there is a distinct talent for it, and 
when no such talent exists the same indifference will 
return in maturity. But during the period of youth, 



PHYSICAL DISTURBANCES 17 

even girls who are naturally unmusical find pleasure 
in melody, especially of their own creation. The de- 
sire to perform upon some kind of instrument, nota- 
bly the banjo, is almost universal. Probably, how- 
ever, the development of tactile perception and muscu- 
lar co-ordination has something to do with the nascent 
wish to be a performer. 

The use of the voice, from a musical standpoint 
also begins to be a source of pleasure at this epoch. 
Mere animal spirits, no doubt, have something to do 
with enjoyment of its use in melody, but a real de- 
velopment of aural perception is evident from the 
fact that the harsh discordant sounds which in child- 
hood were unnoticed or even agreeable, now become 
increasingly unpleasant. This is a point of difference 
between boys and girls, for boys continue to carry 
their love of uncouth sounds, such as college yells 
and war-whoops, into early manhood. 

The normal changes in vision at this period are not 
marked. The perception of color becomes more 
acute and more intense, and with it appears the love 
of exceedingly bright colors, which is so characteristic 
of youth. As time goes on, however, crudity of taste 
is outgrown, being sometimes succeeded by exquisite 
delicacy of color-feeling. The judgment of form also 
becomes more accurate, and the perception of beauty 
more developed. Abnormal changes in the eyesight 
occasioned by over-strain are sometimes quite marked, 



18 GIRL AND WOMAN 

and much permanent harm to eyesight results from 
them, but it seems better to discuss these in connection 
with the eye. 

Disturbances of the nervous system may find ex- 
pression through either the mind or the body ; whereas 
disturbances of other organs or systems must express 
themselves through the body exclusively. The most 
common disturbance of the nervous system in girls is 
chorea, or what is known in old-fashioned parlance as 
St. Vitus' Dance. It is a disorder characterized by 
irregular and involuntary muscular movements, the 
cause of which is not yet clearly understood. All that 
we do know with certainty is that there is no actual 
disease of the nervous system. It is not surprising 
that the condition is regarded with great dread, for its 
peculiarities are most alarming as well as most morti- 
fying. There is really, however, no reason for appre- 
hension. With the exception of a few rare cases of a 
peculiar nature, the disease runs its course and re- 
covery takes place spontaneously. It usually makes 
its appearance in bright intelligent girls rather than 
stupid ones, and it is especially frequent in ambitious 
girls who are stimulated beyond their physical en- 
durance at school. One physician of experience has 
even gone so far as to speak of it as " school-made." 
The first symptoms of it are usually nothing more 
than restlessness and inability to sit still in one posi- 
tion, sometimes accompanied by disturbed sleep and 



PHYSICAL DISTURBANCES 19 

causeless attacks of crying. The characteristic jerk- 
ing movements begin a little later. Often they are 
first noticed at table and a girl is supposed to be 
awkward or careless because she drops articles that 
are handed to her. In severe cases all the muscles of 
the body are affected and movements of every kind 
become jerking and eccentric. A doctor ought al- 
ways, of course, to be consulted in regard to chorea, 
for there are various means by which he can relieve 
and shorten it; but the disease, as I said before, is 
one that almost always gets well spontaneously. 

Another nervous affection which sometimes makes 
its first appearance in youth, though not so often as 
in childhood, is stammering. It is caused by a want 
of co-ordination between the muscles of speech and 
the brain impulse which stimulates them to action. 
While not serious in itself, it ought to have extreme 
care, because if not cured immediately, it may easily 
become permanent. 

That particular form of headache, accompanied by 
nausea and vomiting, which is commonly known as 
sick headache and technically as migraine, almost al- 
ways makes its appearance in youth. It is occasion- 
ally, though rarely, seen in childhood, but hardly ever 
begins after twenty. The disorder is undoubtedly a 
nerve storm of some kind, though we do not know the 
explanation of it. It is often associated with some 
constitutional disease, especially gout, and it is quite a 



20 GIRL AND WOMAN 

different thing from the headache which accompanies 
an attack of acute indigestion with gastric symptoms. 
Genuine migraine is almost always inherited, either 
directly or collaterally. The pain is usually on but 
one side of the head and is accompanied by various dis- 
turbances of the nervous system, such as temporary 
loss of sight, giddiness, a sense of blinding light, and 
other symptoms, some of which are present in one 
case and some in another. 

Neurasthenia, or nervous prostration, is not com- 
mon in girlhood, though the foundations of it are 
often laid at that time by over-pressure either in 
education or in social life. The form peculiar to 
girlhood, when it does occur at that time, is character- 
ized by excessive fatigue following exertion quite in- 
sufficient to account for it. Whenever nervous pros- 
tration does occur in a young girl it must be taken as a 
sign that her nervous system is not fully up to par and 
requires more care than under ordinary circumstances. 
Her life in future must be so arranged as to give her 
every facility for taking the necessary precautions. 
Excitement or exertion that in a normal girl might 
do no harm, are too great a risk in the case of one 
who has shown signs of neurasthenia, even though 
she has entirely recovered. A liberal allowance of 
sleep also is a necessity and it must not be curtailed 
for any reason whatever. The same thing is true in 
regard to other nervous ailments, as in the case of 



PHYSICAL DISTURBANCES 21 

girls who suffer from neuritis or from prolonged neu^ 
ralgia. 

A word must be said in regard to that worst of all 
nervous disorders, epilepsy, though fortunately it is 
not common. When it does exist, it most commonly 
makes its appearance between thirteen and eighteen. 
It differs from the other conditions we have discussed, 
because in it there are areas of actual disease in the 
brain, though it seems to be doubtful how far these 
are the result of the epilepsy or its cause. It is strong- 
ly hereditary, or rather the nervous imperfection that 
gives rise to it, is hereditary, but in the immediate 
ancestors the defect may have shown itself as insanity, 
intemperance, or some other abnormality of the ner- 
vous system. Whenever signs of it appear, of even 
the mildest description, the case should be put under 
the care of a specialist at once. How far the condi- 
tion is susceptible of cure is not yet determined, but 
we do know that we have more reason to be hopeful 
in regard to recovery than we formerly had, and also 
that the condition can be kept from growing worse 
by timely treatment. 

It is only necessary to have a clear understanding 
of the physical side of girlhood to realize that it is 
a period calling for incessant care and attention. 
Only now, however, has this understanding been 
reached; the necessities of girls at this age up to the 
present time, being too little regarded. Mothers, who 



22 GIRL AND WOMAN 

watch over every minute of a young child's existence 
with jealous care, often become indifferent when she 
reaches girlhood. It is not surprising that such 
marked bodily changes should sometimes be accom- 
panied by disturbances of health; there is more reason 
for surprise that these disturbances are not more fre- 
quent and more serious. Many of them disappear 
spontaneously and others yield readily to medical 
treatment. But the advice of any intelligent sensible 
physician will take the shape largely of directions as 
to the healthful conduct of life rather than the pre- 
scription of medicines, and just as a typhoid patient 
owes his life mainly to the nurse upon whom the 
hourly care of his case depends, so does a young girl 
owe her healthy womanhood to nothing so much as 
the mother whose intelligent care and sympathy con- 
trol her daily life during her passage from child to 
woman. 

I give here, in conclusion, the account of a case in 
my own experience which illustrates what can be 
done by sanity and patience, even when the disturbance 
of health is more serious than is often the case. A 
girl who had had a normal healthy childhood, began, 
when she was about thirteen, to display great languor 
and disinclination to exertion whether in study or play. 
At first this was set down to indolence, but her mother 
shortly became convinced that some change incident 
to her age was the underlying cause, though nothing 



PHYSICAL DISTURBANCES 23 

was apparent beyond a certain degree of anemia. In 
the course of a few months she developed the symp- 
toms characteristic of heart disturbance, namely, ra- 
pidity of action, palpitation, and shortness of breath, 
soon followed by an attack of chorea so severe that 
she could not walk and had to be carried each day 
into the open air. She was under the care of a good 
physician, but she lived at such a distance from him 
that he could see her only at long intervals, and her 
mother carried out his instructions, which were mainly 
directed to rest, sleep, fresh air and nourishment. 
Under this regimen the child improved slowly, until at 
the end of eighteen months from the first attack she 
was able to go back to school, after which the symp- 
toms gradually disappeared altogether, and she is now 
a vigorous, healthy young woman, who spent four 
years in college without any strain upon her health 
whatever. Yet this was a case of unusual severity 
with a wider range of disturbance than is often seen. 



CHAPTER II 

MENTAL DISTURBANCES OF GIRLHOOD 

Development of brain — Self consciousness — Egotism — 
Altruism — Self-confidence — Timidity — Interest in per- 
sonal appearance — Love of society — Love of solitude — ■ 
Reticence — Girlish friendships — Early love affairs — 
Attachments to older women — Hero-worship — Religious 
excitement — Spiritual awakening — Religious doubt — 
Conversion — Religious activity — Pledges — Morbid re- 
ligious feeling — Nostalgia — Hysteria — Insanity. 

The brain increases very little in size after the 
eighth year, and the brain cells are almost as large 
and as numerous by that time as they ever will be. 
But the function of the brain, that is to say the capa- 
city for thought, depends, not upon the size or number 
of the cells, but upon the number and arrangement of 
certain long fibers, called nerve processes, which ex- 
tend from one cell to another and establish paths of 
connection by which ideas travel from one part of the 
brain to another. The extent and variety of these 
connections are what determine brain capacity, for 
upon them depends the number of ideas and their 
association with one another, as well as rapidity of 
thought. During childhood the number of nerve proc- 
24 



MENTAL DISTURBANCES 25 

esses is small and the paths for ideas few and simple, 
but when the growth of the brain in respect to size is 
complete, they begin to develop in every direction. 
The growth of mental power, however, depends not 
only upon the development and association of nerve 
cells and nerve processes but upon their education 
by which new regions of thought are opened and 
paths of least resistance cultivated and it is during 
youth that such training is most easily and effectually 
carried on. This is the time when education does 
its best work by strengthening structures already 
formed and by rousing dormant elements to fu- 
ture growth and organization. If the nerve ele- 
ments of the brain are by nature deficient, cultivation 
cannot do much for them but, on the other hand, no 
matter how rich in possibilities they may be, much 
latent ability will be lost in the absence of the 
training and stimulation bestowed by formal educa- 
tion. 

The process of cell development begins at about the 
same time as the period of physical growth. Up to 
that time the higher mental processes, such as intellect, 
imagination/ and originality of thought exist only in 
a latent state, but with the establishment of brain con- 
nections in every direction they come rapidly into ac- 
tivity. The development of the different mental 
faculties, however, is extremely unequal, emotion and 
imagination advancing more quickly than intellect and 



26 GIRL AND WOMAN 

reason, so that during the early years of mental 
growth there is great mental instability and excess of 
the emotions. Emotional life is, indeed, the most 
prominent feature of early girlhood, a fact which 
must never be forgotten in studying the mental pecu- 
liarities of the period, for, in most cases, it contains 
their explanation. These mental disturbances begin 
at about the same time as the physical ones, described 
in the previous chapter, but they continue longer, and, 
speaking generally, it may be said that while the bodily 
changes occupy the years between twelve and sixteen, 
the mental ones cover the period between twelve and 
twenty-one, being most intense from fifteen to 
eighteen. 

The most characteristic feature in the mental de- 
velopment of girlhood is self -consciousness, or, to put 
it more exactly, the consciousness of self; which is the 
basis of all the mental changes of the period. During 
childhood there is little or no consciousness of the in- 
dividual. The little girl is cared for by others, her 
judgments and opinions are taken from others, and 
she not only acquiesces in this state of things, but has 
no conception of any other. The most characteristic 
feature of childhood is imitation. But with the 
dawn of mental development and the birth of new 
ideas, begins the growth of individual life and the 
capacity to reason, judge, and analyze. Life has 
hitherto been limited by the girl's own surroundings, 



MENTAL DISTURBANCES 27 

which she has accepted without question; now she be- 
gins to ask herself the meaning of things around her, 
and then, going a step farther, she looks out into the 
world and ponders over her own relation to it, realiz- 
ing that a place in it is her birthright and speculating 
upon its possibilities. While, all the time, underneath 
this mental awakening lies the mysterious influence of 
sex just coming into existence, unrecognized by her 
but nevertheless entering into all her thoughts and 
emotions. It is not strange, surely, that this phase 
of her life should be one of storm and stress during 
which she is subject to excess of emotion. 

The fundamental self-consciousness of the period 
expresses itself in a variety of ways, sometimes in ap- 
parent contradiction to each other. Egotism is pres- 
ent, whichever way we turn, for nothing in the world 
is so interesting to a girl at this time in life as herself; 
yet this is the moment when the altruistic instinct, in 
other words the feeling for others, first makes itself 
felt. It seems as though the perception of an indi- 
vidual place in the world belonging to herself brought 
with it the perception of the place occupied by others, 
so that the selfish and the altruistic instinct exist side 
by side in a manner which is never possible again, for 
by the time maturity is reached one or the other will 
have gained ascendancy and will maintain the domin- 
ant note throughout the future life. Another seem- 
ing contradiction is the presence of self-confidence and 



28 GIRL AND WOMAN 

self-distrust in the same person, one mood succeeding 
the other with instant transition. But this is only the 
natural outcome of lack of self-knowledge. A girl at 
this age does not know herself and self-confidence 
without self -understanding is easily upset. . 

The effect of the self -consciousness on manner is 
largely a question of temperament. Girls who are 
naturally timid are awkward, shy and sensitive to 
such a degree that they sometimes seem paralyzed in 
the presence of strangers, while others, by nature self- 
possessed, are confident even to the point of boldness. 
But shyness does not always show itself in difficulty 
of speech. On the contrary, extreme shyness may be 
at the bottom of loud, rapid talking on all-chosen sub- 
jects, while at other times, speech, although fluent, is 
so forced and nervous as to be almost incoherent. 
Both the talkative and the tongue-tied forms of shy- 
ness proceed from the same thing, namely, the percep- 
tion in the girl's mind that she does not know exactly 
what she ought to say or do, and therefore she either 
abandons the attempt and takes refuge in silence or 
makes an agonized effort resulting in incoherent chat- 
ter. 

Boldness, or in its extreme form, impudence, is an 
indication of confidence in the ability to do and say 
the right thing and a determination to let the capacity 
be seen. It is not so common as shyness, and when 
it is present, there has generally been some defect in 



MENTAL DISTURBANCES 29 

early training. Not that defective training neces- 
sarily results in boldness of manner, but when ex- 
treme self-assurance is a natural trait, an error in 
early education will bring it to flagrant proportions 
in early youth. 

Intense interest in personal appearance is a very 
common manifestation of self-consciousness, and 
often develops suddenly when there has been no sign 
of it before. Up to this time clothes have been taken 
as a matter of course, very much as if they were fur 
or feathers ; now they become one of the vital interests 
in life. Trifling questions of fashion, color or fit, are 
a real source of unhappiness; the exaggerated impor- 
tance attached to them gives the impression that noth- 
ing else in the world can be of any consequence what- 
ever, and that the girls expect to stand or fall in life 
by their clothes. The form of fastidiousness takes dif- 
ferent directions according to temperament. Some 
girls wish to have their dress and appointments as 
striking as possible, in order to attract attention; oth- 
ers manifest an almost morbid desire that everything 
about them shall be so exactly what it should be that 
it will attract no notice whatever, whether approval 
or censure. This difference is really, at bottom, one 
of character, arising from a natural confidence or a 
natural timidity. 

Increased attention to personal neatness is another 
feature of this particular phase. Often it is in 



30 GIRL AND WOMAN 

marked contrast to the previous condition of affairs. 
Many girls up to thirteen or fourteen, are as careless 
and indifferent to their toilet as their brothers, and 
will not give due attention to its details without super- 
vision. Very few girls, indeed, can be trusted with 
the care of their own toilet before they are fifteen. 
Then, of a sudden, there is a transformation, personal 
nicety and adornment becoming matters of absorbing 
interest and importance. Dainty and fanciful toilet 
appointments, such as ivory or silver-backed brushes 
or elaborate manicure sets, become objects of pride or 
envy, and the beautifying of bedrooms occupies much 
time and attention. All these new interests, whether 
of dress, of person, or of appointments, are signs of 
the new consciousness of independent personality, and 
also of the perception that its attraction to the other 
sex is beginning to be appreciated. Miss Austen has 
touched upon this phase of girlhood with delightful 
humor in the description of her heroine, Catherine 
Morland : 

" At ten years old . . . she was noisy and 
wild, hated confinement and cleanliness, and loved 
nothing in the world so well as rolling down the green 
slope at the back of the house. At fifteen appear- 
ances were mending; she began to curl her hair and 
long for balls ; her complexion improved, her features 
softened, her eyes gained more animation, and her 
figure more consequence. Her love of dirt gave way 



MENTAL DISTURBANCES 31 

to an inclination for finery, and she grew clean as she 
grew smart." 

The social sense almost always undergoes some 
change. Some girls have a craving for society; oth- 
ers for solitude. The little girl who dreaded the 
companionship of other children and could not bear to 
go away from home will suddenly develop an inor- 
dinate taste for social intercourse. She will go any- 
where and everywhere she is invited, and makes plans 
for incessant company at home. This development 
of the social sense and of the gregarious instinct shows 
itself in the fancy for societies and clubs, so common 
among school girls, while in boys it appears in a dis- 
position to " go in gangs." 

At the other extreme of this phase is the taste for 
solitude. A girl who was formerly content and happy 
in the society of other children, now seizes every op- 
portunity to read or walk alone, or slip away by her- 
self and sit lost in her own thoughts. The satisfac- 
tion in being alone, however, does not always proceed 
from aversion to companionship in itself. The med- 
ley of new thoughts, impressions and emotions 
crowded into a girl's mind at this time sometimes be- 
comes so oppressive that she longs for isolation until 
she has established some sort of relation between her- 
self, and her new mental processes. It is rather the 
custom to ascribe this kind of conduct to secretiveness, 
which I cannot help thinking shows a misunderstand- 



32 GIRL AND WOMAN 

ing of its nature. Secretiveness implies a deliberate in- 
tention to conceal, but the reticence of this period is 
usually entirely without conscious intention. The girl 
does not scheme to conceal what is passing in her 
mind, but her thoughts at this time are as full of 
mystery to herself as to others, and if she does not 
speak of them openly it is because she does not - un- 
derstand herself and has no means of expression at 
her command. 

It is at this point in development that parents often 
make a grave mistake. Not infrequently a nlother, 
to whom all her daughter's plans, hopes, and aspira- 
tions have always been known, suddenly finds herself 
shut out, not by intention on the girl's part, but by 
force of changes within, which she lacks power to 
express. It is not surprising that a mother should ex- 
perience a moment's hurt feeling when she first real- 
izes that the child whose every thought has hitherto 
been known to her is now more or less a mystery, but 
good sense ought to convince her that the new order 
of things is only what is natural and right. This is 
the time when a girl, to use a coloquial phrase, is doing 
her own thinking, and it is for her own good that she 
should do it spontaneously, without being forced to 
attempt an analysis of her mental processes for the 
information of another, no matter how near and dear 
the other may be. At this stage of mental growth 
the power of insight is far in advance of the power 



MENTAL DISTURBANCES 33 

of expression. A girl feels and perceives much more 
than she can put into words or even into connected 
thought. By-and-by when the reasoning powers are 
more developed and the mental processes are in equili- 
brium, all her half-formulated ideas, aspirations, and 
wonderings will take form and find expression; but 
until this time comes it is a great mistake to intrude 
upon her reserve. Properly treated, the period is 
only a temporary one. If a girl finds that her confi- 
dence is not forced and is sensible of that silent com- 
prehension and sympathy which demands no recogni- 
tion, she will give her confidence again fully and freely 
as she did before; but interference with the process of 
self-evolution just at this period will certainly impair 
confidence for the future. 

Turning to emotional changes of a deeper charac- 
ter, we find that those of affection are most common. 
With little children the family circle represents the 
entire world and the affections developed within it are 
founded upon dependence and trust, but with the ad- 
vent of youth, other types of affection make their 
appearance, all of which contain more or less of the 
altruistic instinct, combined in each instance with some 
other sentiment or sentiments. The simplest of the 
various forms of youthful affection is that of friend- 
ship between two girls of about the same age, at- 
tachments which are often of great intensity for the 
moment. 



34 GIRL AND WOMAN 

Sometimes parents are disposed to disapprove of 
such friendships on the ground that they are too en- 
grossing and that other claims or duties are neglected. 
No doubt this danger does exist. Youth; as someone 
has said, is the age of folly, and occasionally a girl 
will carry such an attachment to absurd lengths, 
neglecting her acquaintance, her studies, even her 
family, for this one intimacy, going out only in the 
beloved one's company, entering into no pleasures or 
interests which cannot be shared with her, and dress- 
ing either exactly like her, or in accordance with her 
taste. This kind of thing, if kept up for any length 
of time, is, of course, detrimental to a rounded de- 
velopment, but as a matter of fact the passion burns 
itself out, like other intense emotions, in a few months, 
and either becomes an extinct volcano or else settles 
down into a common-place, every-day regard. If it 
is kept within moderate bounds while it lasts it is 
not a bad thing, provided it satisfies two requirements, 
namely, that both parties shall be innocent-minded, 
conscientious girls and that duties or ties which have 
a moral claim shall not be neglected for it. Under 
undue repression the emotional disturbance at the bot- 
tom of it will certainly find some other means of ex- 
pression and a girlish friendship is certainly more 
desirable than a premature love affair. 

Not that early love affairs between boy and girl, 
under natural and blameless conditions, are by any 



MENTAL DISTURBANCES 35 

means so objectionable as they are sometimes thought 
to be. They have been looked upon askance because, 
until recently, the opinion of the French psychologist, 
Ribot, that sex instinct is the only influence concerned 
in them has been accepted without question. But 
later psychologists incline to the belief that sex in- 
stinct is only one of several factors involved, and not 
by any means the most powerful. The altruistic in- 
stinct is certainly an element in all the other affections 
that develop during youth, and there seems every rea- 
son to believe it is so here. In fact, the opinion now 
coming to be accepted in regard to early love affairs is 
that they are composed of the same elements as friend- 
ships between girls, namely the altruistic and gregar- 
ious instincts, with the addition of sex instinct in 
small proportion. External influence, such as imita- 
tion and suggestion, has a part in their causation, the 
latter being sometimes a most harmful agent. But 
quite as powerful as either of these and in many in- 
stances much more so, is the effect produced by read- 
ing romantic love stories, in which the element of 
passion is given undue prominence, such for example 
as the serial tales in the cheap weekly papers. 

But although these early attachments are far more 
childlike and platonic in their nature than has been 
supposed, there is no doubt they are undesirable for 
young girls, even though the harm done by them is 
mainly indirect. Such an attachment may and some- 



36 GIRL AND WOMAN 

times does have a certain good effect by stimulating a 
girl to pay attention to her manners and deportment, 
but these advantages are outbalanced by their evils, 
such as neglect of study, possible jealousy and deceit, 
and above all, by the unwholesome excitement which 
in the common phrase, turns a girl's head. Yet it is 
by no means judicious to treat such affairs with sum- 
mary repression, for it is only too likely to induce de- 
ceit. In fact, repression is never a wise means of 
treatment for emotional excesses. The excitement of 
girlhood must find some means of expression, and if 
the chosen outlet is thwarted, it will either continue 
its course by underhand means, or if the girl, from 
conscientious motives lends herself to repression, her 
health of body or mind will almost surely suffer. 
The period, as I said before, is one of storm and 
stress, and the girl who passes through the years be- 
tween twelve and twenty without emotional disturb- 
ance of some kind is exceptional. 

Probably the best means of dealing with youthful 
attachments is to give them as much judicious neglect 
as is consistent with keeping them under quiet ob- 
servation. Separation has a most excellent effect, be- 
cause the growth of the mental powers at this age is so 
rapid that even a brief interval of time will create 
changes so marked as to make both parties feel quite 
differently when they meet again. Early love affairs, 
however, are one of the things in which an ounce of 



MENTAL DISTURBANCES 37 

prevention is worth a pound of cure. There can be 
no doubt, as I have said before, that they are fostered 
by unsuitable suggestions during the later years of 
childhood, which do an immense amount of harm 
that is not sufficiently appreciated, for even when it 
has no immediate bad effect, it prepares the way for 
later influences of a harmful nature. Many people^ 
who think twice before suggesting a love affair to a 
young girl, think it is pretty to do so in her babyhood, 
and amusing to watch the effect of allusions to little 
sweethearts of six and seven years old. But the child- 
ish mind which is accustomed to such allusions has 
had its soil well prepared for the same influences in 
later years, and enters into a girlish attachment far 
more lightly and easily than would be the case if 
childhood had been free from suggestion. 

The results of investigation into early love affairs 
are as yet too small to warrant positive conclusions, 
but as far as they go, it seems that their tendency is 
toward a natural death, and therefore there are rarely 
any permanent bad results, though there is always rea- 
son for watchfulness and caution, especially at the 
close of an attachment, for the excitement occasioned 
by it often results in a craving for renewal. Out of 
one hundred cases investigated in one High School, 
only two ended in marriage and one of these applied 
for a divorce, a result which our knowledge of the 
mental conditions belonging to the age would lead us 



38 GIRL AND WOMAN 

to expect, since the fact that the emotions are so much 
more developed than the reason makes it highly un- 
likely that any choice made at this age could be based 
on any real appreciation of character, or stand the 
test of time. 

Another type of affection, confined usually to the 
years between twelve and seventeen, is the passion- 
ate and romantic friendship between a young girl and 
a woman some years older than herself. These at- 
tachments are often contemptuously treated by parents 
and guardians, on the ground that they are unnatural 
and therefore likely to be harmful to the younger 
party, an unfortunate idea, for they are often most 
exquisite in their nature and beneficial in their effects. 
The nature of their influence depends upon the charac- 
ter of the older woman. If it is a fine one, her in- 
fluence, which for the time being is unbounded, will 
be one of the best things life can bestow. The self- 
consciousness of the age and the growth of the in- 
dividual life often make a girl impatient of home 
influences, even when her affection for them is un- 
changed. In the new phase of existence upon which 
she is now entering, all her own ideas and impressions 
are new to her and even her own personality, now 
realized for the first time, strikes her with surprise. 
It is not strange that a gulf seems fixed between her 
and the formulas which governed her childhood, nor 
that in this period of transition, when everything on 






MENTAL DISTURBANCES 39 

her mental horizon is changing around her like a 
kaleidoscope, she should feel that her necessities are 
better understood by an outsider, who from her 
point of view, is not hampered by preconceived opin- 
ions. For one peculiarity of the emotional period is 
that every girl believes her experience to be unique 
while it lasts. Careful study of many cases shows 
that they are all alike as far as the main char- 
acteristics are concerned, but it is only in later life that 
this fact can be perceived by the chief figure. It is 
quite natural, therefore, that a girl should believe her- 
self best understood by a stranger, and wise parents 
will accept the situation as one of the necessities of 
growth. 

Everything depends, however, upon the character of 
the older party in the friendship. If she does not 
grasp the* situation and use her influence with tact 
and discretion,- the. younger may lose her self-reliance 
and individuality, even though the influence is other- 
wise good and sincere. And" if the older woman is 
really undeserving of confidence, much graver injury 
to character will result. The influence of a really bad 
woman, upon a young and plastic mind, at a time when 
impressions are most easily received, may ruin a whole 
life; and even, when the defects are confined to weak- 
ness, selfishness, or vulgarity, a great deal of harm 
is possible. A girl may' regain her freedom of judg- 
ment and, after a time, see clearly how mistaken she 



40 GIRL AND WOMAN 

was in her youthful confidence and affection, but even 
if her principles escape unharmed, a certain amount 
of injury to taste is almost unavoidable. If parents 
have reason to think the influence undesirable, but 
not actually objectionable, the friendship had better 
be dissolved as gently and indirectly as possible. For 
it must be remembered that the girl's affection is sin- 
cere and intense, and that, for the moment, she is not 
capable of understanding the objections, though she 
will do so eventually. Hence direct and determined 
opposition will not only cause her great suffering, but 
for the time being, impair her confidence in her par- 
ents. Yet if the parents are assured that the older 
woman is really one who has lost general respect, the 
friendship had better be broken without loss of time, 
at any cost of trouble or heart-burning. 

Closely akin to this type of affection is that known 
as hero-worship, which is really devotion to the ideal. 
One of the writers on adolescent affection says with 
great clearness of observation, that " in certain phases 
of adolescent emotion, affection seems to exist in a 
diffused state and attach itself to some real or im- 
aginary individual, whom the alembics of youthful 
fancy transforms into the highest ideal." It is the 
peculiarity of this form of affection that an imaginary 
object answers the purpose as well as a real one; in- 
deed, it seems with girls, at any rate, as if an im- 
aginary one were preferred. All that is needed is 



MENTAL DISTURBANCES 41 

some heroic action or some inspiring quality of heart 
or head to serve as a focus for the diffused emotion. 
An inquiry into the nature of the ideals in a num- 
ber of these cases has shown them to be rarely un- 
worthy ; indeed, it throws a pleasant light upon youth- 
ful human nature, to find that the objects of hero- 
worship are almost always noble and refined. This 
being the case, the only harm that can possibly arise 
from an attack of it, is absorption to such a degree 
that legitimate claims and duties are neglected, while, 
on the other side the stimulus given to character in 
process of formation by devotion to a high ideal, real 
or imaginary, is a great gain. 

Next to affection, the commonest form of emotional 
disturbance in youth, and also the most powerful, is 
religious excitement. Inquiry into this phase shows 
that toward the end of actual childhood, that is to say, 
between eight and twelve, there is a period when the 
mind becomes conscious that henceforward the con- 
duct of life must be ruled from within and not from 
without, and with this perception comes a certain 
amount of mental disturbance which may be either 
religious or moral. This phase lasts but a short time 
and is over by the time the period of rapid physical 
growth begins. It belongs, therefore, entirely to child- 
hood and would hardly call for mention here, were it 
not the prelude to more developed excitement a few 
years later. 



42 GIRL AND WOMAN 

The latter disturbance usually appears in girls be- 
tween thirteen and sixteen, the most common age be- 
ing about fifteen. The latent spiritual feeling which 
it represents has been developing for a long time un- 
known to the subject of it, until it is suddenly roused 
into activity by some external influence, such as a 
sermon, a conversation with a friend or a stranger, 
or, in some cases, a passage in a book. Whatever 
form it may assume, it is the spark falling upon a 
train prepared for it, for the spiritual influence which 
has been stirring within needs only the right stimulus 
to become overwhelming, a fact which explains why 
an impulse that often seems quite inadequate, can 
arouse feelings of such intensity. In other instances 
the awakening takes place quietly and spontaneously 
without any excitement whatever, and the subject is 
unable to say why the consciousness of religious emo- 
tion should suddenly appear, though the fact that it 
has done so is plain, and the circumstances attending 
it make such an impression that they are never for- 
gotten. 

Whatever the outward form of expression may be, 
there is hardly any girl who passes through the transi- 
tion between childhood and womanhood without an 
awakening to religious life of some description. The 
reason for this is probably that all children are nat- 
urally religious and most of them are religiously 
taught ; the idea of religion, therefore, is firmly im- 



MENTAL DISTURBANCES 43 

planted in their minds and accepted as a matter of 
course. But with the growth of emotion and of in- 
dependent thought, it suddenly presents itself as a 
principle which must be thought out in company with 
other new perceptions and ideas. It has been rather 
the custom to associate the religious sensibility of 
youth with the excitement attending the establishment 
of the function of sex; but those who have studied 
the subject most recently incline to the belief that, 
with girls at any rate, the connection between the two 
states is nothing more than must exist between any 
two emotional conditions at a period when there is 
great mental unstability. 

The spiritual awakening having once taken place, it 
is followed by a period of disturbance which may as- 
sume one of several forms. One of these, which some 
persons consider the most frequent, is that of religious 
doubt, the objects of skepticism being usually dogmas 
or creeds, as for example, the inspiration of the Bible, 
the existence of God, the divinity of Christ, the doc- 
trines of immortality and atonement. Sometimes the 
disbelief begins with some one of God's attributes, 
as His mercy, justice or love, and then having started 
with one in particular, advances gradually from one 
attribute to another until it is complete. 

Some persons have assumed that the fact of doubt 
appearing so frequently with the first stages of in- 
dependent thought is evidence that the doubting attri- 



44 GIRL AND WOMAN 

bute in religion is a natural one, but this is a great 
mistake. It is an even greater error to consider such 
doubts a manifestation of atheism and treat the sub- 
ject of them as a willful unbeliever. The explanation 
of the phase is to be found, as in most disturbances 
of the period, in the birth of self-consciousness and the 
growth of independent thought, which arouse a crav- 
ing for absolute truth, the girl not realizing that much 
of what she would like to know can only be under- 
stood through the experience of life, or, it may be, 
can never be known at all. The capacity to accept 
uncertainty on important abstract questions comes only 
with maturity; youth is confident of its own ability 
to understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and 
cannot believe that an answer to earnest inquiry is 
ever impossible. 

As soon as the mind awakens to religious inquiry, 
the beliefs hitherto accepted without question, sud- 
denly present themselves for fresh and independent 
judgment. They are tried in the balance of indi- 
vidual opinion, but before any decision can be reached, 
there is almost always a period of suspense and fer- 
ment. As the years go on and the intellect develops 
sufficiently to balance the emotions, judgment is 
formed, and in the majority of cases the girl returns 
to her former articles of belief, generally in a recon- 
structed form. There are always a few cases, how- 
ever, which decide for positive unbelief in one form or 



MENTAL DISTURBANCES 45 

another, but the unbelief often disappears in its turn, 
with the experience of years. 

When the excitement following spiritual awaken- 
ing is not accompanied by doubt, it usually takes the 
form of a sense of imperfection, accompanied by rest- 
lessness, anxiety, depression, and doubt of God's for- 
giveness or the genuine character of its own re- 
pentance. This is the condition known as the " con- 
viction of sin " in which the consciousness of imper- 
fection is always the central feature, while the feelings 
accompanying it vary according to individual tem- 
perament and education. 

The state of religious distress continues for a longer 
or shorter period and then yields to a sense of forgive- 
ness and peace, brought about by both conscious and 
unconscious causes. This is the state of mind known 
as conversion. It is sometimes accompanied by great 
excitement, which under special conditions and mis- 
management may become hysterical ; in other instances 
the chief feature of it is a yielding up of the will fol- 
lowed by joy and peace. The cases in which the spir- 
itual awakening is spontaneous and peaceful, without 
any period of ferment or distress, do not experience 
any process of active conversion. 

Whatever form the spiritual disturbance assumes, 
it is almost always followed by great religious activity 
of one kind or another. Some girls are possessed 
with a consuming desire for attendance upon religious 



46 GIRL AND WOMAN 

services, or for hearing sermons by emotional preach- 
ers ; others are consumed with a burning zeal for do- 
ing good to others or testifying to their belief in and 
out of season, while still another class spends hours 
in private devotion, sometimes to the neglect of other 
duties. Whatever form the activity may take, it is 
hardly ever in moderation. 

It is often a nice question for parents who are 
watching a daughter pass through this period of re- 
ligious ferment, how far the emotion of the moment 
ought to be encouraged to express itself formally in 
the shape of an open profession or a pledge. The 
wish for such action is the natural outcome of intense 
excitement seeking definite expression and most girls 
are ardently desirous of some such step, whether it 
take the form of the rite of confirmation, of adult bap- 
tism, or a formal " joining the church." The objec- 
tion to such a step lies, of course, in the possibility 
that when the excitement of the transition from girl 
to woman is over and the calmness of maturity is 
reached, it may be the subject of regret, since it holds 
her committed to opinions which may not then be ap- 
proved by her judgment. On the other hand it may 
be argued that it is wise to secure a definite committal 
at this time, just because it may be impossible later on. 
The question must, of course, be decided for itself in 
every case ; but one thing is quite certain, namely, that 
those in authority are never justified in taking ad- 



MENTAL DISTURBANCES 47 

vantage of the excisable and unstable condition of the 
mind at this period to exert pressure toward a pledge 
of any kind, nor in stimulating religious feeling be- 
yond its spontaneous limit. In the first place the sus- 
ceptible condition of the nervous system at this time 
may make forced pressure actually dangerous, and 
the result may be hysteria or neurasthenia. This is 
the dangerous side of revivals. But equally injurious 
and much more common, is the forcing an artifi- 
cial state of mind, in which the girl imagines that she 
feels more than is really the case. Then, when her 
reason develops and she realizes where she actually 
stands, she will be antagonized toward religious be- 
lief altogether. Many a young mind has been warped 
by this kind of treatment. 

It sometimes happens that religious disturbance, 
whether it is doubt, depression, or anxiety, passes be- 
yond any reasonable boundaries. In such a case a 
girl cannot sleep, she loses her appetite, and lives under 
a dark cloud of gloom and self-reproach. The belief 
in having committed the unpardonable sin, which in 
old times caused such fearful misery, was one man- 
ifestation of this condition, that fortunately is now 
rarely seen. Such cases are almost always due to 
physical weakness; indeed it is hardly too much to 
say that they are always so, whether the failure is 
one of general health or some special disturbance of 
the nervous system. 



48 GIRL AND WOMAN 

A perfect description of such a case is that of John 
Bunyan's religious experiences, as given by himself in 
" Grace Abounding " ; the interpretation of his feel- 
ings on a physical basis having been supplied, in re- 
cent years, by a well-known psychologist. 1 

Religious consolation and advice in such a case is 
worse than useless unless it is accompanied by physical 
care, but it is not always well to exclude discussion 
on religious subjects altogether, for the patient then 
begins to think that those around her are out of sym- 
pathy with her condition and state of mind, and 
nothing is so important as that her confidence should 
be preserved. Usually these cases are perfectly un- 
mistakable, but if there is any uncertainty whether 
the doubt or depression passes over the normal line, 
the point can be settled by observing the effect of an 
assurance that no anxiety or care need be felt, given 
by someone in whom full confidence is reposed. If 
the mind is normal, there will be relief, at any rate 
for a time, but if the condition is a morbid one, the 
assurance will have no effect. 

One abnormal condition practically confined to girl- 
hood, is the extreme form of homesickness, profes- 
sionally known as nostalgia. The ordinary type of 
homesickness, which hardly any of us has escaped, is 
not important enough to come under this head. But 
occasionally, — usually when there is a defective nerv- 

1 " The Case of John Bunyan," by Josiah Royce. 



MENTAL DISTURBANCES 49 

011s system, — separation from home and accustomed 
surroundings is followed by a distress so acute and so 
profound that the victim cannot eat nor sleep, and 
unless it is relieved, the health fails altogether. One 
striking peculiarity of the condition, which is wanting 
in the common form of homesickness, is that the crav- 
ing seems to be for the home itself and for the accus- 
tomed environment, not for the persons belonging to 
it, and the companionship of relatives at a distance, 
or even the establishment of the conditions of home, 
gives no relief. 

An interesting case of nostalgia in its typical form 
is that of the two sisters, Charlotte and Emily Bronte, 
who in early girlhood left their lonely home in the 
moorlands to study in Brussels. Charlotte, by a great 
effort of will, managed to remain away for the ap- 
pointed time, though she was never well or even mod- 
erately happy ; but Emily, whose temperament was ex- 
tremely morbid, was so seriously ill that it was neces- 
sary to send her home again. 

Genuine cases of nostalgia are rare, but they do 
sometimes occur, especially in boarding schools. 
Generally if a girl can be carried through a few weeks 
by means of her own will and the sympathy of those 
in charge of her, she will recover; but if the condi- 
tion persists and her general health begins to fail, 
there is nothing for it but to send her home. 

Hysteria is a nervous condition not peculiar to 



50 GIRL AND WOMAN 

youth, but much more frequent then than at any 
other time. Exactly what the nature of it is we do 
not know. So far as appearances are concerned it is 
characterized by involuntary imitation of the symp- 
toms of some kind of disease, and this imitation, which 
would be impossible to any voluntary effort, even that 
of the cleverest mimic, is carried on perfectly through 
the subconscious mind. The term " hysteria " is some- 
times applied to cases of deliberate imposture, and 
also (from carelessness) to almost any condition 
which is not at once understood and seems to the by- 
standers unreasonable. But every year shows more 
plainly that the various manifestations of hysteria are 
due to some actual disease, though we do not as yet 
know what that disease is. 

The typical severe forms of hysteria, with convul- 
sive seizures, epileptic symptoms, and other violent 
manifestations, are extremely rare in this country. 
Among French women, whose nervous temperament 
is very unstable, they are not uncommon. The milder 
forms, such as we see here, usually appear as uncon- 
trollable fits of crying or laughing, or both together, a 
choking sensation in the throat, and great lack of self- 
control. In more severe cases there is imitation of 
symptoms which have been read of, or overheard in 
the conversation of others. It is strongly hereditary, 
about seventy per cent of cases being inherited, though, 
like other nervous affections, the nervous defect may 



MENTAL DISTURBANCES 51 

have shown itself under another form in the previous 
generation. 

Perhaps the most important thing to be remembered 
in everyday life about hysteria is that we are not justi- 
fied in using the word in the same sense as imaginary, 
and dismissing an ailment as hysterical because we do 
not understand it and therefore do not more than half 
believe in it. Even if it is characterized by imitation 
of symptoms belonging to diseases which are known 
not to be present, the underlying hysterical condition 
is none the less present and real. The careless and 
unwarranted use of the word " hysterical " is respon- 
sible for a great deal of cruelty. 

The most serious of all mental disturbances, of 
course, is insanity. In the very early years of girl- 
hood, it is rare, but a little later, that is to say, from 
eighteen to twenty-one, it is not uncommon, a fact 
which is not surprising when we remember the excita- 
bility of the brain at this period. The element of in- 
heritance enters into it strongly, in fact, insanity of 
youth is the most hereditary of all insanities, probably 
because youth is the time when all inherited qualities 
are especially liable to appear. Still another influence 
which favors the appearance of insanity in youth is 
the excitement attending the establishment of the sex- 
ual function. 

Insanity in girlhood may take either of the two 
great forms which characterize it in later life, namely, 



52 GIRL AND WOMAN 

mania or melancholia. In both cases there are de- 
lusions of persecution, the imaginary persecutor being 
usually a friend or a relative. Sometimes the patient 
thinks she will be robbed or put into prison unjustly, 
or have her home burned. In other cases there is 
simple depression, without any definite idea. Illu- 
sions, that is to say, false impressions connected with 
the senses, such as imaginary odors, visions or sounds, 
are not so common as in older insanity. 

In other cases no definite idea exists and there is 
simple melancholia without assignable reason, or else 
bursts of excitement with hysterical symptoms. 
Sometimes a patient who has apparently been uncon- 
scious of all that was passing around her, will show 
afterwards that she was aware of every word, and 
that her condition must have been largely feigned. 

It would not be profitable to discuss the various 
manifestations of youthful insanity at length, but there 
are a few peculiarities of it which it may be desirable 
to mention. The idea of suicide is often present, but 
it rarely takes active expression as it does in later 
life. In fact, it seems as if the impulse to self-de- 
struction in youthful insanity is usually hysterical, be- 
ing intended to deceive the bystanders and excite their 
sympathies. It is not, as in older persons, a real 
desire to take life. There is more or less disturbance 
of menstruation, usually of the nature of suppression, 
and the mental condition is always worse at the time 



MENTAL DISTURBANCES 53 

of the periods, or shortly before they appear. Friends 
and relatives are apt to think that the mental condi- 
tion is the result of the suppression, but the truth is 
that both are manifestations of some general dis- 
turbance belonging to the period of life. The prospect 
of recovery from youthful insanity is good, much bet- 
ter than in later life; in fact it is more hopeful than 
in any other form of mental derangement. Eighty 
per cent of recoveries are given by one authority. 
There may be several relapses, however, before recov- 
ery finally sets in. 

The treatment of all such cases belongs, of course, 
to the physician, and any case showing symptoms of 
insanity ought to be placed in his hands without delay. 
The matter of prevention, however, lies largely in the 
hands of relatives, and a good deal can be done in this 
line. Whenever an insane inheritance is known or 
suspected, a special watch must be kept over a girl 
during girlhood and the few years preceding it. Men- 
tal excitement and over-pressure in study must be 
avoided with the utmost care, but on the other hand 
constant occupation of a congenial kind is a necessity, 
for nothing is so likely to favor a latent tendency to 
mental derangement as introspection and self-analy- 
sis, which always arises when the thoughts have noth- 
ing to keep them occupied. Disturbances of men- 
struation in girls with such an inheritance should re- 
ceive more attention than would be necessary in girls 



54 GIRL AND WOMAN 

without it, and any symptoms of hysteria or undue 
excitement, either with the periods or at other times, 
must receive prompt attention. Above all there must 
be abundance of sleep and nothing should be allowed 
to interfere with the night's rest. Insomnia, if it 
should appear, must never be neglected. In all actions 
and events of life it must be remembered that cases 
where an insane inheritance exists cannot take liber- 
ties with health, and that slight risks in the way of 
excitement, pressure or fatigue, which a normal girl, 
for sufficient reason, might assume, ought never to be 
allowed in a case where there is reason to fear insan- 
ity. 



CHAPTER III 

MORAL DISTURBANCES OF GIRLHOOD 

Association of mental and moral disturbance — Sense of 
personal freedom — Exaggerated conscience — Abolition 
of moral sense — Bad temper — Untruthfulness — Dis- 
honesty — Kleptomania — Debt — Use of bad language — 
Failure of will power — Review of principal points in 
disturbances of girlhood. 

There is no real difference between the mental and 
moral disturbances of girlhood, or rather, to speak 
more exactly, moral disturbances are actually mental 
changes which find expression through the moral na- 
ture. For the sake of convenience, however, it seems 
best to consider them separately. The development of 
self-consciousness, which underlies the mental changes 
of girlhood, finds expression morally in a desire for 
personal freedom, before unknown. To a child right 
conduct is represented by obedience. A normal, 
healthy little girl does not trouble herself as to ab- 
stract questions of right or wrong and feels no moral 
responsibility beyond the fulfillment of duties laid 
down for her by her parents. But when she reaches 
the age when the brain cells begin to establish con- 
nections in every direction, the process of thinking 
55 



56 GIRL AND WOMAN 

for herself, which leads, on the emotional side, to re- 
ligious excitement, shows itself on the side of the 
reason by activity of the moral sense and sometimes 
by eccentricity of conduct. 

I do not propose to discuss the graver moral de- 
linquencies which come under the head of law-break- 
ing, for their presence shows that the offender is suf- 
fering from the pernicious effects of defective train- 
ing and poor environment, or else that she has in- 
herited criminal tendencies; and in either case she 
belongs to the specialist in child reformation. What 
we need to consider here are the peculiarities that ap- 
pear in almost all girls at some point between twelve 
and twenty-one, and then disappear with the estab- 
lishment of maturity and the subsidence of emotional 
disturbance. 

These peculiarities of conduct may be for better 
or for worse, that is to say, they may take the form 
of a morbid exaggeration of what is right or of a 
departure from it. In a girl who has inherited good 
moral instincts and received a careful training based 
upon principle, the new sense of personal freedom and 
individual responsibility sometimes shows itself in a 
morbid conscientiousness, assuming one form or an- 
other according to temperament and circumstance. 

An exaggerated altruism, or love of others, is a fre- 
quent manifestation. Under its influence a girl will 
imagine herself called upon to make some fanatical 



MORAL DISTURBANCES 57 

self-sacrifice. Sometimes the impulse takes the form 
of renunciation and under the stimulus of this morbid 
craving for self-immolation, she will give up every 
claim that she considers worldly or accept the most 
unwholesome and unattractive duties and surround- 
ings, which ten years later, when her moral equilib- 
rium is reached, she would make every effort to change 
for the better; or, if that should be impossible, to es- 
cape from altogether. This impulse towards self-sac- 
rifice is one element in the condition of self-surrender 
which combined with religious excitement creates the 
condition known as conversion. 

Sometimes the perverted moral sense takes the form 
of thinking all pleasure wrong, because it distracts 
the mind from serious things, or even simply because 
it is pleasant. In other instances there is a craving 
for exertion, which prompts the subject of it to un- 
dertake many new and sometimes unnecessary duties, 
such as teaching in Sunday School, helping in boys' 
clubs, or mothers' meetings, or sewing circles. But 
however proper the undertaking may be in itself, the 
conscience is never satisfied that all possible exertion 
has been made or that the results are all that they 
should be. 

Another form of expression is that in which a girl 
cannot be satisfied if she has done wrong without 
confessing the fault to someone, sometimes because 
confession is good for the soul, and in other cases be- 



58 GIRL AND WOMAN 

cause she cannot be satisfied without the assurance of 
pardon. Not infrequently when she does confess the 
fault she exaggerates its importance to an extent that 
is absurd, like the little Sister of Charity in Miss Wool- 
son's tale who accused herself of murderous rage 
because she chastised the cat with a palm branch when 
it had broken her flower pot. Another variety of 
exaggerated conscience is that which invents an im- 
aginary ethical situation and then argues as to the 
question of right and wrong involved in it. Still an- 
other phase is literal verbal accuracy, in which a girl 
is miserable because she has said she heard carriage 
wheels, when they may have been the wheels of a 
cart, or that she thought a thing was so, when she had 
better have said she believed it. 

It is very important not to stimulate this morbid 
condition. There is no danger that a conscience of 
this description will become lax; the great thing to be 
feared is that it will be finical, and every effort must 
be made to induce the victim to take a sane view of 
things. Physical causes are often concerned in this 
moral unhappiness, just as they are in religious de- 
pression, and for both the cure lies in a healthy life 
with abundance of sleep. 

At the other extreme from this exaggeration of the 
moral sense are the cases where the moral sense for 
the time being is diminished or even lost. The most 
frequent form of moral weakness in adolescence is bad 



MORAL DISTURBANCES 59 

temper, whether it takes the form of violent anger, 
of sulkiness, of revengefulness, or of general irrita- 
bility. Here again physical causes play a considerable 
part, for often the nervous system just at this age is 
so excitable and over-charged that the most trivial 
things, such as a teasing glance, or a well-meant but 
ill-judged word will cause an explosion. It is wrong 
to judge a girl too severely for conduct of this kind, 
since she is not responsible for the emotional condi- 
tion peculiar to her age; but it is very necessary to 
make her realize the dangers of yielding to it, for the 
habit of bad temper is one easily formed and hard 
to break. It is a good plan to watch a case in which 
irritability of any kind seems to be developing, so as 
to find out how far it is affected by physical fatigue. 
If it is worse in the afternoon, when the fatigue of the 
day is beginning to be felt, if it is increased by exer- 
tion or excitement, and especially if it is increased at 
the monthly periods, it may be safely set down to 
bodily weakness. The treatment must lie in adjusting 
physical conditions, in removing or forestalling causes 
of offense, and, above all, in enlisting the girl's efforts 
in her own service and teaching her to control herself. 
Explain to her how great will be the injury to her 
future if the habit of bad temper is formed, and show 
her how easy it is, comparatively, to control herself, 
if she makes the effort in the very beginning before 
she has begun to yield to the angry influence. 



60 GIRL AND WOMAN 

Untruthfulness is another common fault of youth, 
sometimes appearing in a girl who has hitherto been 
truth itself. It assumes various forms, not all of 
which can be characterized as deceit, though they are 
certainly departures from truth. The commonest, as 
well as the most interesting of the latter, is that in 
which the imagination overpowers the sense of reality. 
It is the same mental condition as that in which young 
children declare they have met with lions and tigers, 
or set fire to houses, or, perhaps, in cases where the 
mind is naturally commonplace, describe imaginary in- 
cidents in which the circumstances are of everyday 
nature but have had no existence. The only difference 
in the delusions of later years is that the imagination 
is more developed and the consciousness of self more 
intense. 

These imaginative states are generally excited by 
some character in romance or history, around which 
the imagination plays, and they often contain a strong 
element of hero-worship. A girl will imagine herself 
to be some individual of whom she has heard or read, 
as, for instance, Mary, Queen of Scots; Elaine; Peggy 
Stewart ; or it may be, a Red Cross Nurse. The illu- 
sion, whatever it may be, will pervade all her thoughts 
and actions while it lasts, and she will endure consider- 
able discomfort or make great exertion in order to 
sustain it with dignity. Fiametta, in Mrs. Harker's 
charming story, " A Romance of the Nursery " ; when 



MORAL DISTURBANCES 61 

she impersonated Ellen in " Home Influence," — 
" walking with drooping head and downcast eyes, the 
antimacassar draped gracefully about her cheeks to 
represent her flowing ringlets " is an excellent ex- 
ample. 

The most remarkable thing about these affairs is 
the relation of the girl herself to her delusion. She 
knows perfectly well, of course, that the idea in pos- 
session of her is the work of her own imagination, 
but this knowledge remains in a subconscious state un- 
til it is called into active existence by a deliberate ef- 
fort or a sudden shock. In the absence of any ex- 
ternal stimulus, she lends herself to the delusion and 
is for the time being the creature of her own imagina- 
tion. 

It is unwise to treat these affairs too seriously, for 
there is no deceit in them in the real sense of the word. 
The girl does not " practice to deceive," and therefore 
to tell her that she is lending herself to a lie and is 
to blame in the same sense, if not in the same degree, 
as if she were guilty of a deliberate imposture is doing 
her a great injustice and may end by seriously confus- 
ing her ideas of right and wrong. Nor is it right, 
so it seems to me, to treat these innocent fancies with 
contempt or derision. The advice, sometimes given, 
to laugh at them cannot be judicious, for it will cer- 
tainly cause pain and may result in their being car- 
ried on secretly, which is peculiarly unfortunate for 
6 



62 GIRL AND WOMAN 

it is evidence that the girl's trust in her authorities 
has been shaken. 

The whole thing ought to be regarded as a perfectly 
natural phase in girlish development. At this time in 
life, the mind is opening every day to new sources of 
knowledge and the girl is continually making ac- 
quaintance with interesting personalities in history 
and romance, or, it may be, in the. accounts of actual 
events. At the same time the self -consciousness be- 
longing to the period is constantly on the alert to seize 
occasions for its gratification. Is it surprising that, 
under these conditions, the imagination, always ex- 
citable at this age, even in girls who are naturally 
commonplace, should seize upon some romantic or 
heroic character now heard of for the first time, and 
invest herself with its personality and atmosphere? 
It may sometimes be necessary to take measures to 
keep an impulsive girl from making herself ridicu- 
lous before strangers who do not understand her 
but otherwise it is surely best to let the situation 
entirely alone. The girl who passes through the early 
years of youth without any experience of the kind 
is really less normal in her development than the girl 
for whom it exists and what is more she is less fortu- 
nate. The phase while it lasts will give her many 
happy hours, and when it has passed away, which it 
does spontaneously, it. will leave her in possession of 
delightful memories. 



MORAL DISTURBANCES 63 

Another variety of untruthfulness, quite different 
from the last, is that which comes from fear. Prob- 
ably American girls, who are brought up from in- 
fancy to independence, are less likely to fall into this 
form of error than their contemporaries in other 
lands ; still, there are timid girls everywhere who may 
be tempted to lie to escape punishment. Another mo- 
tive, which I believe to be more common, is dread of 
ridicule. This point has received less attention, as a 
cause of falsehood than it deserves. In girlhood the 
thoughts, ambitions, and imaginations are exquisitely 
sensitive, and like all young and tender growths they 
are easily crushed by rough usage. Moreover the 
feelings are much quicker than they are in later life, 
and, although a young girl has still to learn their full 
depths, she feels acutely upon matters that seem trivial 
in the extreme to her elders. No other age is so re- 
sponsive to sympathy or so hurt and repelled by con- 
tempt or ridicule. The dread of being " made fun 
of " on a subject near and dear to her will cause a 
girl to seek protection from wounded feeling in false- 
hood as soon or sooner than the fear of blame or 
punishment. 

In fact ridicule is never a useful or safe means of 
dealing with girlhood. The sense of humor is almost 
entirely absent in children and very crude and unde- 
veloped in youth, which always takes itself with the 
utmost seriousness. A sneer, a laugh, or even a look 



64 GIRL AND WOMAN 

of good-natured amusement is enough to give deep 
offense, or to check the sources of innocent pleasure 
and take away many happy hours, to say nothing of 
the possibility of destroying confidence and stimulat- 
ing deceit. 

Still another class of untruths is that arising from 
vanity and affectation. " Showing off " is one of the 
common defects of the age, arising naturally from its 
ever-present self-consciousness, and girls affected by it 
are apt, in order to impress others, particularly those 
younger than themselves, to say anything that will 
serve their purpose in this respect, no matter whether 
it is true or false. They will repeat compliments paid 
them upon their appearance by boys or young men, or 
praises of their proficiency in study coming from their 
teachers, which are wholly, or in part their own inven- 
tion. In other cases they boast of personal posses- 
sions which they do not own, or of accomplishments 
which they cannot produce when occasion offers. If 
they have early love affairs they are prone to deceive 
their admirers as to the existence of previous attach- 
ments, leading them to suppose there were no others, 
or else boasting of their number and importance. No 
doubt there is a certain amount of self-deception in 
this form of untruthfulness, though much less than in 
the imagination of personality, but the worst thing 
about them is the ugly element of self-seeking and 
vanity, which makes it necessary to treat them with 



MORAL DISTURBANCES 65 

more or less severity. Exposure in such cases often 
does good. If a girl who has been indulging in this 
form of falsehood is confronted unexpectedly with the 
truth in the presence of the person she is trying to 
impose upon, it is a most useful lesson. But what- 
ever form of treatment is adopted, it is essential that 
the culprit should understand she is blamed for the 
wrong motives behind her falsehood quite as much 
as for the falsehood itself. 

Lies told with deliberate intention, in order to gain 
some advantage or to injure someone else, are usually 
associated with intrinsic meanness of character or with 
motives of revenge. They are met with under vari- 
ous conditions. A girl may declare herself possessed 
of qualities or attainments which she knows she does 
not own, not, as in the case just mentioned, from the 
instinct of self-importance, but because she wishes to 
gain a coveted amusement or distinction; or she may 
justify herself at the expense of an innocent compan- 
ion; or circulate a story which she knows to be un- 
true in order to injure someone against whom she has 
a grudge. In such cases the moral delinquency lies, 
not so much in the falsehood, as in the feelings of 
envy, hatred, and malice by which it is prompted. It 
is of no use to blame the offender for deceit and pass 
over the underlying faults of disposition. 

It would seem as if a really bad disposition must 
exist whenever the last two kinds of untruthfulness 



66 GIRL AND WOMAN 

are present, but happily experience shows that is not 
by any means always the case. At this period the 
moral sense seems not infrequently to be abolished 
for the time being, by reason of backwardness of de- 
velopment in the rational faculties upon which the 
ethical sense depends. The intellectual qualities of 
mind, as we have already seen, including reason, judg- 
ment, and self-restraint, always develop more slowly 
and reach maturity later than the emotional ones, and 
if, as must sometimes happen, the difference between 
their growth should be greater than customary, the in- 
dividual is left at the mercy of the emotions until 
reason asserts herself and will-power is developed. Of 
course, it occasionally happens that the moral equilib- 
rium is never attained, and then we have the moral 
delinquents who become habitual criminals or not, ac- 
cording to character and environment. But these are 
the exceptions, which, as I said before, belong to the 
consideration of specialists. Under normal conditions 
the lapse of moral sense at this period is a transient 
phase which does not give rise to any grave misde- 
meanors and disappears spontaneously as reason as- 
serts itself. 

This explanation of moral delinquency in youth is 
every day becoming more appreciated by those inter- 
ested in the training of girls and boys, and it is for 
this reason that such persons strive so earnestly to 
establish reformatories where those who offend 



MORAL DISTURBANCES 67 

against the law during this state of moral feebleness, 
or who cannot be controlled by their friends, may be 
sent for a few years until their moral nature has 
reached its proper development. To treat such cases 
as criminal is the height of injustice and unkindness, 
to say nothing of its being the surest way of turning 
the unfortunates into habitual offenders. 

Dishonesty in girls or young women is generally 
found among those who are in want of necessities, or 
of what might be called lawful indulgences. The 
craving for pleasure is one of the characteristics of 
youth, the appreciation of it being keener at that time 
than it was before or will ever be again. But with 
the putting away of childish things the simple pleas- 
ures, which formerly furnished all that heart could 
desire, suddenly lose their savor, and as the mind 
opens and knowledge increases all kinds of new pos- 
sibilities in the way of enjoyment suggest themselves. 
When legitimate means of indulging these longings 
are wanting, it is not strange that the temptation to 
find ways and means should sometimes be too much 
for the unstable moral sense of the period. Theft of 
such a kind cannot be classed with the worst forms of 
dishonesty, and when it is committed for actual neces- 
sities, such as food, we must naturally feel that the 
fault lies with a state of society in which such things 
can exist. 

Among the well-to-do, theft, when it does occur, 



68 GIRL AND WOMAN 

arises from a temporary loss of moral sense, though, 
of course, there are occasionally cases, in which the 
want of moral perception is an inherent defect. But 
such cases are very rare. One particular form of 
theft confined almost entirely to young girls, is that 
known as kleptomania. It appears almost always be- 
tween thirteen and twenty, though it is occasionally 
seen in older women. There is a great deal of dis- 
cussion as to whether this condition is one of the 
forms of temporary loss of moral sense, or a delib- 
erate crime against the law, for which the offender 
is fully responsible. It is hard to regard it in the 
light of deliberate theft, for the motive, in most 
cases, is lacking, the girl taking articles she does not 
in the least need or even desire, or which she could 
have by expressing a wish for them. Again, the 
things taken are sometimes so unsuitable that they 
can be of no possible use or pleasure in themselves, 
and yet no attempt is made to dispose of them. An- 
other argument against its being deliberate is that the 
impulse seems to be irresistible, even when it is al- 
most sure to be quickly found out. Take, for in- 
stance, the case of a young girl who ordered a most 
expensive set of furs from a well-known shop and 
had them charged to a friend of her mother's, who, 
there was every reason to believe, would discover the 
fact without loss of time. As by far the greater 
number of cases of kleptomania happen in early 



MORAL DISTURBANCES 69 

girlhood and recover with maturity, it seems probable 
that it is really one of the temporary moral dis- 
turbances. 

To deal with a case of theft requires the utmost 
tact and discretion, whether it is a direct yielding to 
temptation or the effect of kleptomania. Each case 
must be treated according to the temperament and cir- 
cumstances of the offender. It is most essential that 
she should feel what she has done to be wrong, and 
at the same time it would be a great injustice to treat 
her as a thief. Perhaps what is most important is 
that she should appreciate that the offense is one for 
which she could be prosecuted, and realize how near 
she stands to a penalty which others, less fortunate, 
may have to pay under similar circumstances. If a 
sufficient impression can be made in this way it will 
probably keep her straight, until she has developed 
sufficient moral force for her own protection. 

Another form of dishonesty frequent in girlhood is 
debt on account of extravagance. The debts con- 
tracted by young girls are not serious and must, of 
course, be paid by some one responsible for them, but 
the moral defect is greater than it may appear at first, 
because it lays the foundation for a habit of debt 
later on. No doubt it arises, like other moral dis- 
turbances of the period, from the temporary loss of 
moral perception, but it is really more serious than 
most of the others, for they pass away spontaneously 



70 GIRL AND WOMAN 

with growth; but a habit of debt will be kept up later 
in life. In fact the moral sense once disturbed in this 
particular does not seem able to recover as it does in 
other cases. 

The use of bad language is supposed to be a fault 
belonging especially to boys ; nevertheless girls are by 
no means exempt from it at this particular age. 
Sometimes a girl who has never shown the slightest 
disposition to such a thing before will suddenly ap- 
pear to be under a perfect obsession, compelling her to 
say all the profane or obscene words she has ever 
heard and a great many which it seems impossible she 
ever could have heard. An outbreak of profanity of 
this kind is quite a different thing from the swearing 
prompted by a fit of anger or exasperation, indeed, 
girls do not seem to experience this particular tempta- 
tion as boys and men do, for in their case, a good fit 
of crying takes the place of a storm of bad words. 
Probably the explanation of bad language in girls is 
to be found in the impulse to " show off," arising 
from self-consciousness. The craving for attention 
and notice is sometimes so strong at this age that to 
do what is shocking is almost as great a temptation as 
to do what is admired, and bad language, of course, 
affords an easy means to the end in view. 

This particular phase of moral disturbance is the 
only one in which contempt is useful as a cure. To 
show horror and distress is exactly what the offender 



MORAL DISTURBANCES 71 

desires^ though she may not have formulated the 
thought, and therefore it is the thing of all others to 
be avoided. If the offense is treated with silent con- 
tempt, or with a few words showing disgust and sur- 
prise at such childishness and bad taste, there will be 
no temptation to repeat it. 

It sometimes happens that the period of life which 
we are now discussing is disturbed at some point by 
a failure of will power, or rather by a lack of its 
development, which affects the conduct passively in- 
stead of actively. There does not seem to be suffi- 
cient vigor of either mind or body to excite deter- 
minate wrongdoing, neither is there enough to act 
as a protection against it, and the results, of course, 
are faults of omission rather than commission. It 
is in such cases as this that we find incorrigible lazi- 
ness. A girl goes to school if she is sent, for she has 
not enough energy to set up an active resistance or to 
play truant; but when she gets there she sits with her 
eyes fixed on her book and her mind fixed on noth- 
ing at all. Another manifestation of the condition is 
excessive disorderliness and want of cleanliness both 
of person and surroundings. Just at the age when 
a girl becomes old enough to have charge of her own 
toilet and is usually much occupied with its various 
phases, such a one as we are now discussing must 
either be supervised like a child or be as unpresentable 
as a child left to its own devices. Still another form 



72, GIRL AND WOMAN 

of the condition is a dreaminess and general want of 
responsibility which make the subject of it entirely 
untrustworthy. 

Here again the question of physical causes must be 
considered. A depreciated state of the general health 
and a low vitality are frequently at the bottom of this 
condition. Often the discovery and cure of anemia, 
or of a disturbed action of the heart, will be followed 
by such a sudden change to vigor and activity that 
there seems to be a difference of individuality. Faults 
arising from this cause should never be set down 
arbitrarily as proceeding from willfulness and super- 
fluity of naughtiness. A will thus weakened is an in- 
firmity which ought to excite compassion, and needs 
to be protected and cared for until it is strong enough 
to stand alone, which it will do when the period of 
transition is over. The treatment must be governed 
by circumstances. Such a girl may be perfectly 
obedient, but nothing is gained by that. It is impos- 
sible to regulate life at this age entirely by obedience. 
The great point is to find out what will stimulate the 
will and develop the sense of personal responsibility, 
and that is a task that will often tax the most acute 
perceptions. Sometimes, in fact not infrequently, 
strangers are more successful in awakening energy 
than relatives or friends, and it may be a good pjan to 
send such a girl away from home for a time to a good 
boarding school or some other place where there will 



MORAL DISTURBANCES 73 

be a change of interest as well as the necessity for 
assuming more personal responsibility, and of keeping 
up appearances with strangers. 

The most serious of the moral disturbances of girl- 
hood, of course, are those connected with sex, though 
persons best acquainted with the subject seem now 
agreed that ignorance is a far more powerful agent in 
such cases than sexual temptation. The two chapters 
devoted to the various matters associated with sex, 
seem to be a more appropriate place for the discussion 
of these matters, therefore they are now only men- 
tioned in passing. 

If we take a brief review of the various disturb- 
ances of girlhood, it is plain that their presence is not 
in itself a cause for anxiety. The physical changes 
natural to the age, especially the development of com- 
plex associations in the brain, with its consequent evo- 
lution from a lower to a higher function, must in- 
evitably be accompanied by disturbances of one kind 
or another, the nature of which in any particular case 
depends upon a variety of influences, such as in- 
heritance, environment, education, and the most subtle 
of all, — temperament. 

It is in the management of the period that occasion 
for anxiety lies. Not that there is anything in that 
management which cannot be carried out successfully 
and easily, provided the forces to be reckoned with 
are clearly understood. The difficulty lies in the fact 



74 GIRL AND WOMAN 

that the nature of these forces has not, until recently, 
been investigated. The object of these three chapters 
has been to present such information in regard to them 
as it has been possible to obtain from sources now 
open, and before concluding, it seems well to em- 
phasize such of the points considered as suggest special 
food for thought. 

All the disturbances of girlhood can be accounted 
for if only we remember that consciousness of self 
and realization of personal freedom are the two great 
influences of the period. The regulation of these two 
forces is the one great essential in the management of 
youth, but in order to carry this out successfully the 
difference in development between the emotions and 
the reason must always be borne in mind. As I have 
said more than once, all the emotional qualities are 
in excess during the early years of girlhood and the 
imagination has a vividness which it will never have 
again, but the rational qualities develop with compara- 
tive slowness. These fundamental facts, once clearly 
understood and kept constantly in mind furnish a solu- 
tion for most, if not all the problems of girlhood. 

Few parents, or those in the position of parents, 
realize how important the period of girlhood is, nor 
how tactful their own conduct must be while their 
children are passing through it. The task before them 
is to combine watchfulness and care with the personal 
freedom that youth requires for its full development, 



MORAL DISTURBANCES 75 

and it is not an easy one. Naturally it is hard for 
parents to see a child make grave mistakes and in- 
volve herself in unhappiness because she will not con- 
sent to profit by their experience of life. Yet this is 
just what a wise parent will try to do. I do not mean, 
of course, that girls should be allowed to do what 
will injure their characters, or involve them in perma- 
nent suffering; still less that they should act so that 
they are condemned by the outside world. In the 
larger affairs of life, whose consequences are far- 
reaching, they need to be controlled, more or less as 
they were in childhood. But in the smaller affairs of 
everyday life, they had much better be left to their 
own devices, even though these will surely lead them 
into trouble. Only by their own experience can they 
learn what is worth knowing, and only by bearing the 
consequences of their own mistakes will they find out 
how to protect themselves in the future, even if they 
burn their fingers — as they undoubtedly will — in 
the fiery furnace of experience. 

Nothing, moreover, inspires confidence between 
youth and those in authority over it so quickly as the 
absence of interference, and nothing calms and regu- 
lates the agitation of the period so entirely as the pres- 
ence of confidence and the knowledge of sympathy. 
As someone has said, " What youth wants most is 
room." And if it recognizes that space to grow in 
its own way is willingly granted, not grudgingly con- 



76 GIRL AND WOMAN 

ceded, the great difficulty in the situation is overcome. 
Above all, the reserve of youth should be respected. 
I have tried to show that it is not the result of delib- 
erate concealment, but a lack of self -comprehension 
and of power of expression. Youth is naturally in- 
articulate and must remain mute as to its own mental 
processes until such time as its faculties are fully and 
evenly developed. Fathers and mothers who can re- 
frain from interference, respect reticence, and sym- 
pathize with ill-regulated emotion during girlhood, 
will reap a rich reward in that life-long friendship 
with their daughter, which is one of life's most 
precious possessions. 



CHAPTER IV 

REPRODUCTION 

Nature of reproduction — Difference of the process in the 
lower and the higher forms of life — Manner of reproduc- 
tion in ameba — In hematococcus — In heteromita — In 
vaucheria — In polygordius — In crayfish — In the fish — 
In the bird — In the mammal — In the human being. 

All the various functions of the body are estab- 
lished at birth with one exception, namely, that of 
reproduction, which is not developed in any living 
thing, whether animal or vegetable, until it reaches 
maturity. The establishment of the function in the 
human being is accompanied, especially in girls, by 
changes affecting both mind and body, which have 
been described in the previous chapters. The anat- 
omy and physiology of the reproductive organs, how- 
ever, as well as the nature of the reproductive process 
itself are still to be considered. For a girl to grow 
up uninformed of these facts and of the natural laws 
connected with them is doing her a great injustice, 
because she then enters life unprepared for some of 
its most serious problems and may have to pay heavily 
in health or happiness for her ignorance. Our present 
custom of surrounding all matters of sex and of re- 
7 J7 



78 GIRL AND WOMAN 

production with an atmosphere of mystery is a most 
unfortunate policy and we have reason to rejoice at 
the perception, now growing up on all sides, that the 
open, direct treatment of such subjects is a duty par- 
ents owe to their children. There seems to be a gen- 
eral agreement among those interested in the question 
of sex from the educational standpoint that the best 
way to make the subject clear to young minds and to 
place it before them in a right light is to explain the 
evolution of the process of reproduction as it appears 
in the different forms of life from the lowest to the 
highest, illustrating the different stages by the descrip- 
tion of types showing special characteristics. This 
is the method I propose to follow here, though it is 
impossible in the space at command to do more than 
present the most distinctive forms. 

Every living thing is able to reproduce itself. It is, 
indeed, the power of reproducing its kind that dis- 
tinguishes life from what is inanimate. Inanimate ob- 
jects can increase in size by the addition of more of 
their own substance, but only living things can multi- 
ply their kind by the production of a new individual 
in their own likeness. The manner of reproduction 
differs greatly in different forms of life, but whatever 
the variations may be, they are always in accordance 
with the position in the scale of life. In the lower 
forms, reproduction is more or less simple; in the 
higher more or less complex. It is more intricate in 



REPRODUCTION 79 

a dog than in a bird; in a frog or a fish than in a 
lobster; in a worm than in a jelly-fish, and the same 
differences exist in vegetable life, though they are not 
so constantly before us. The reproduction of a rose 
is a much more complicated process than that of a 
seaweed. 

One of the lowest and simplest of all living things 
is the ameba, an animal organism so small that it 
can only be seen through the microscope. It consists 
of one single cell, composed of a transparent jelly- 
like substance called protoplasm, which contains a 
central spot, known as the nucleus, the whole being- 
surrounded by a wall formed of the cell substance. 
But this cell, tiny as it is, is able to carry on within 
itself all the processes necessary to life — it moves, 
it breathes, it digests, and finally, it reproduces itself, 
all in the most elementary manner. The process of its 
reproduction is as follows : First, the nucleus divides 
into halves and the two halves immediately move away 
from each other; next the ameba stretches itself out in 
such a manner that it becomes extremely thin just be- 
tween the two nuclei and, finally, it separates at this 
spot. No sooner has the separation taken place, than 
the cell wall closes again on each side so that there are 
two cells, each exactly like the parent cell except that 
it is a little smaller and each ready to begin life on its 
own account as a separate individual. This process 
of cell division is the first step in all reproduction, the 



80 GIRL AND WOMAN 

division of the nucleus being the essential point in the 
process; and it always takes place in the manner just 
described, the nucleus dividing first and the cell sub- 
stance afterwards. The behavior of the cell wall, 
which is not necessary to reproduction, varies in dif- 
ferent forms of life. 

The next stage in reproduction is well illustrated by 
a one-celled vegetable organism called the hematococ- 
cus. It is slightly higher in the scale of life than the 
ameba and its mode of reproducing itself is, therefore, 
a little more advanced. The first division of the cell 
substance into halves takes place exactly as in the 
ameba, except that the cell wall, which is harder in the 
hematococcus, remains unbroken, the division of the 
cell substance taking place within it. But the process 
does not stop at a single division, as in the ameba; as 
soon as the two new cells are formed, they each divide 
again, so that there are four daughter cells within the 
wall of the mother cell. The cell wall then breaks up 
and goes to pieces, while the new cells separate and 
move a little apart from each other. Each of them 
then develops a new cell wall of its own, having at one 
point in it a pair of little filaments, called flagella, by 
means of which it moves about. 

We next come to the stage where the presence of 
two individuals is necessary to reproduction, although 
the part which they take in it is of the simplest descrip- 
tion. A good example of this type is another little 



REPRODUCTION 81 

one-celled organism, called heteromita, which is suf- 
ficiently advanced to have a front and a hind end. At 
times the heteromita swims freely about in the water 
where it lives; at others it attaches itself to some ob- 
ject which it encounters, such as a bit of stick or a 
piece of straw, and remains stationary. When it is 
ready for reproduction, one of the swimming forms 
approaches a stationary form and attaches itself to the 
latter in such a way that the hind ends of the two 
come into contact, after which the two cells mingle 
with each other, just as two drops of mucilage on a 
plate might do. This fusion of two individual cells 
is called conjugation. Out of the mass of protoplasm 
formed by their union a new cell is formed, which, 
after undergoing various stages in development, be- 
comes a full grown heteromita exactly like the parents. 

The next step in the evolution of reproduction is a 
most significant one, namely, the first appearance of 
sex. In the heteromita the presence of two individ- 
uals was necessary to the production of a new one, but 
they were exactly alike; now we reach a point where 
they are different from each other, one representing 
the male and the other the female. Another sign of 
advance is that only a part of the cell takes part in 
reproduction instead of the whole. 

The best example of the type for our present pur- 
pose is a vegetable form called vancheria, which is the 
highest of the one-celled organisms, or rather, it is an 



82 GIRL AND WOMAN 

intermediate stage between the one-celled and the 
many-celled forms. Vaucheria is large enough to be 
seen with the naked eye, though the process of repro- 
duction cannot be observed without a microscope. It 
consists of long green filaments which lie closely 
packed together forming a slimy mass on the surface 
of stagnant water. Along the filaments many nuclei 
are scattered at intervals, but there is no sign of cell 
walls between them, so that the plant cannot be said to 
be either one-celled or many-celled. When reproduc- 
tion is about to take place, which happens only at cer- 
tain seasons of the year, little buds appear at inter- 
vals along the sides of the filaments, each bud con- 
taining a nucleus which has separated from a larger 
one near by. The buds are arranged in pairs, one of 
each pair being a little longer than the other. As soon 
as they are distinctly formed, the shorter bud swells up 
into a round blunt point, after which a cell wall forms 
around it, so that it is shut off from the rest of the 
filament and converted into a separate cell containing 
its own nucleus. This cell is called the ovary and rep- 
resents the female. While the short bud has been 
swelling, the long one has grown still longer and 
after it reaches a certain length, the tip divides into a 
separate cell as in the shorter bud. The new cell thus 
formed is called the spermary and represents the male. 
The spermary now bends over upon itself until it is 
nearly double and its tip approaches closely to the 



REPRODUCTION 83 

ovary. Next the cell wall of the ovary breaks down 
at one point and a little bit of protoplasm comes out 
and disappears. After this the remainder of the 
protoplasm within the ovary separates itself from the 
cell wall and becomes what is called a " naked cell," 
that is to say a cell having a nucleus but no wall. 
This naked cell is the ovum or egg. In the meantime 
the spermary has multiplied by cell division inside the 
cell wall, until there are a great number of tiny cells, 
each of which has developed a pair of flagella as in 
the hematococcus. These tiny cells are sperm cells. 
The walls of the spermary now break down and the 
sperm cells escape, moving away by means of their 
flagella. Some of them approach the ovary and pass 
through the opening in its wall, after which one of the 
number attaches itself to the ovum and the two fuse 
together as in the case of the heteromita. 

The sperm cell and the ovum are the two essential 
elements in reproduction wherever it may be, the 
sperm cell being the male and the ovum the female 
element. Motion is the special characteristic of the 
sperm cell, for its function is to search for the ovum, 
which is always passive. For this reason the sperm 
cells are provided with flagella. The union of the 
sperm cell and the ovum is called fertilisation and it 
takes place in all forms of reproduction. The essen- 
tial point in it is the union of the two nuclei, one from 
the male and the other from the female cell. The 



84 GIRL AND WOMAN 

process of reproduction in vaucheria, simple as it is, 
does not differ in anything essential from the same 
process in the higher forms of life and the terms em- 
ployed in the description just given are those employed 
at every stage in the scale of life. 

We now reach the many-celled organisms, that is to 
say living things composed of numbers of cells, modi- 
fied in many different ways to perform different func- 
tions. With every advance in the scale of life the 
cells become more numerous and more distinctly 
adapted to special forms or functions. All the va- 
rious tissues, parts, and organs of every living thing 
consist of cells which have undergone whatever kind 
of development and modification was necessary to fit 
them for their particular office. The specialization of 
cells becomes more and more complicated with each 
advance in the scale of life until we reach the human 
being, where it attains its highest development. In all 
many-celled organisms, whether high or low in the 
scale, one particular set of cells is set apart and 
adapted for the purpose of reproduction, the male and 
female being separate individuals. 

A good example of the lowest many-celled organ- 
isms is a tiny worm an inch or so in length, called 
polygordius, which lives in the sand at the bottom of 
the sea. The interior of its body, as in all worms, is 
divided into segments and in all of the segments, ex- 
cept a few at the extreme ends, are heaps of cells 



REPRODUCTION 85 

devoted to the function of reproduction. In the male 
worm, when the season for reproduction comes round, 
these special cells divide and re-divide over and over 
again, the new cells thus formed taking on the special 
characteristics of sperm cells. In the female worm 
the cells instead of dividing increase in size and at 
the same time develop the characteristics of ova. By 
this process of multiplication in one case and enlarge- 
ment in the other the interior of each segment becomes 
filled with sperm cells or ova, according to the sex of 
the individual worm. When the ova have reached a 
certain size, the body of the worm splits at some point 
in each segment and the ova escape, remaining just 
where they happen to fall. The sperm cells also es- 
cape from the body of the male worm, though it is 
not known whether they do so in exactly the same 
manner as in the female. As soon as the sperm cells 
are free, they begin, as usual, to move in the direction 
of the ova by means of their flagella. Every sperm 
cell that meets an ovum fuses with it, after which the 
new cell formed by their union divides into two and 
the development of a new worm begins. 

At the next stage of reproduction, represented for 
our present purpose by the crayfish, the reproductive 
organs are still more specialized. In the male cray- 
fish they form a definite organ called the testis, which 
is filled with sperm cells and represents a further de- 
velopment of the spermary in vaucheria. The testis 



86 GIRL AND WOMAN 

lies about the middle of the body cavity in the median 
line and from each side of it proceeds a tube called 
the spermiduct which leads to the exterior and opens 
on one of the legs. In the female crayfish the repro- 
ductive cells form an ovary containing ova and com- 
municating with the exterior by means of a passage 
called the oviduct which opens in a manner similar to 
that of the spermiduct. When reproduction is about 
to take place the bodies of the male and female cray- 
fish come into close contact, after which the sperm 
cells pass out through the spermiduct and are deposited 
on the body of the female at a point near to the open- 
ing of the oviduct. Shortly after this occurs the ova 
escape from the ovary and pass out through the ovi- 
duct. As soon as they reach the outside they encoun- 
ter a sticky substance secreted by a gland in the vicin- 
ity, which fastens them to the body of the female and 
keeps them stationary until the sperm cells have a 
chance to reach them and fertilization can take place. 
As soon as the ova are fertilized, they drop off the 
female and remain where they fall while undergoing 
further development. 

We now reach the important class of vertebrates, 
which is comparatively high in the scale of life, an 
advance shown, as regards reproduction, by the fact 
that fertilization takes place within the body of the 
female. In the fish which will answer very well for 
the purpose of illustration, the reproductive organs 



REPRODUCTION 87 

are much the same as they are in the crayfish except 
that the male has two testes while the female has but 
one ovary. The ovary has two oviducts, however, 
one on each side; but instead of leading directly to 
the exterior, they unite so as to form a single tube 
opening on the outside. Each testis has a spermiduct 
which dilates near its outer end so as to form a pouch 
in which the sperm cells collect and the pouches termi- 
nate in tubes leading to the exterior. When repro- 
duction takes place the male fish comes into contact 
with the female and the sperm cells collected in the 
pouches of the spermiduct pass out of the body of the 
male into the lower part of the oviduct, where the 
ova are fertilized. Soon after fertilization takes place 
the ova pass out of the oviduct and are deposited in the 
grass and weeds. In the course of its passage out- 
ward each fertilized ovum is surrounded with a horny 
substance that serves as a protection during its devel- 
opment. This substance is secreted by a gland called 
the shell-gland situated in the widest part of the ovi- 
duct. 

The process of reproduction in the frog is much 
the same as it is in the fish, but the eggs of the frog 
are covered with a slimy jelly-like substance that 
forms a protective covering and also provides food 
for the developing ovum. The presence of protection 
and of nourishment for the ovum during the period 
in which it is undergoing the further stage of its 



88 GIRL AND WOMAN 

development shows a distinct advance in the repro- 
ductive process. 

With birds we come to a still higher stage in repro- 
duction though the advance is more apparent in the 
condition of the ovum during its development than in 
the reproductive process itself. • The organs of repro- 
duction in the bird are not essentially different from 
what they are in the fish or the frog. The female bird 
has only one ovary which lies in the abdominal cavity 
on the left side of the spinal column. The oviduct 
leading from it is dilated at the end next to the ovary 
and there is another still larger dilation near the other 
extremity. It does not open directly on the exterior, 
but into a passage called the cloaca where the organs 
concerned in excretion also discharge their contents. 

The ovary in the bird is filled with ova in different 
stages of development embedded in a mass of tissue. 
A mature ovum, when it is ready to escape from the 
ovary, consists of a light yellow body enclosed in a 
delicate membrane and having at one point a slightly 
darkened spot or disc. The yellow substance is 
known to us as the yolk of the egg and the disc is what 
old cooks call " the chicken." Cell-division and de- 
velopment take place only in the disc, the yolk serving 
solely for nourishment. 

When the ovum escapes from the ovary it passes 
into the dilated portion of the oviduct. Here it is fer- 
tilized by the sperm cells and passes on downward. 



REPRODUCTION 89 

The white of the egg, which surrounds the yolk, is 
secreted by glands situated in the walls of the oviduct 
and surrounds the ovum as it passes through it. An- 
other set of glands a little further down the oviduct 
secrete the substance that forms the shell. When 
first deposited around the egg the shell is quite soft 
and slimy, but when the ovum reaches the lower dila- 
tion of the oviduct it remains there for twelve to 
eighteen hours during which time the shell becomes 
quite hard. After this the fully formed egg, sur- 
rounded by its shell, is expelled from the dilated por- 
tion of the oviduct by violent contractions of the walls 
and passes out through the cloaca to the outside. In 
other words it is laid. 

But, if nothing more were to happen the egg of the 
bird would never develop any farther. It cannot take 
care of itself, or rather do without any care at all, 
like the eggs of the lower animals. With the bird 
we reach the stage in development known as warm- 
blooded, which means that the temperature of the ani- 
mal's body remains always the same in health and does 
not change according to the surrounding atmosphere 
as in frogs, fish, and other so-called cold-blooded ani- 
mals. It is necessary to the development of the ova 
of warm-blooded animals that they should be kept at 
the temperature of the mother's body until they are 
able to" take care of themselves. In birds the neces- 
sary warmth is furnished by means of the process 



90 GIRL AND WOMAN 

known as sitting, during which the mother keeps 
the eggs close to her body and consequently always at 
the same temperature with it until they are ready to 
come out of the shell. This period in the chicken lasts 
for twenty to twenty-one days at the end of which 
time the little chick is quite formed and, as Mr. Foster 
says in his book upon the subject, " steps out into the 
world." 

Here is a distinct advance upon the process of re- 
production in cold-blooded animals. The ovum de- 
pends upon the mother for protection during its period 
of development, which is not the case in any of the 
lower animals. Moreover, it is provided with nour- 
ishment during its development as well as protected 
from external injury by the shell. These last two 
points are present in the higher of the cold-blooded 
animals, but in a less mature degree. 

We now come to the highest class in the scale of 
life, the class known as mammals, or mammalia, to 
which man, on his animal side, belongs. With mam- 
mals the ovum is not only fertilized within the body 
of the mother, but develops within it as well until it is 
fit for an independent existence. Moreover, after its 
separation from the mother it is nourished by her 
until the first stage of its life is over. The name 
mammal, derived from the Latin mamma, a breast, is 
taken from the organs by means of which this func- 
tion is performed. 



REPRODUCTION 91 

In the dog, which affords a good example of the 
typical features of the mammalia, the female has two 
ovaries each with its oviduct, situated as usual in the 
abdominal cavity, one on each side of the spinal col- 
umn. The upper ends of the oviducts consist of a 
number of long processes forming a fringe which lies 
close against the ovary without actually opening into 
it. At their lower ends the oviducts open into an 
organ called the uterus, where the ovum, after fertili- 
zation, is received and nourished during its further 
development. The uterus in its fully developed form 
is present only in the mammalia, though there are sug- 
gestions of it in some of the lower animals. The 
lower dilation in the oviduct of the bird is, no doubt, 
a stage in its evolution and is sometimes, incorrectly, 
spoken of as the uterus. In the dog and some other 
mammalia the uterus has two long horns, in each of 
which several ova can develop at the same time. This 
arrangement is present in all animals where the young 
are born in families, such as puppies, kittens, or rab- 
bits. But in those mammals, such as the horse and 
the cow, where one ovum develops at a time, the uterus 
has a rounded or a pear-shaped form. 

Whatever may be the shape of the upper portion of 
the uterus its lower end is always elongated and some- 
what resembles the neck of a bottle, from which fact 
it has received the name of the cervix, or neck. The 
cervix opens into a passage leading to the exterior, 



92 GIRL AND WOMAN 

called the vagina. In all animals up to this point the 
reproductive organs have opened into a cloaca common 
to them and to the organs of excretion, as in the bird. 
The presence of a passage devoted exclusively to the 
reproductive organs is another evidence of higher de- 
velopment. 

The male dog has two testes, which instead of lying 
inside the body as heretofore, are contained in a pouch 
of skin outside it. They are filled with a great many 
tiny tubules called the seminal vesicles which contain 
the sperm cells. Connected with the testes by a very 
complicated arrangement is a hollow organ, the penis, 
by means of which the sperm cells are conveyed into 
the vagina of the female when the time for reproduc- 
tion arrives. 

At intervals, which differ in different animals, and 
in the dog are about six months, the ovaries and the 
uterus become congested and swollen, after which the 
thick outer covering that surrounds them breaks down 
at places and such of the ova as are ready to be fertil- 
ized escape. They are then caught by the fine proc- 
esses at the end of the oviduct and pass into its inte- 
rior. This process is known as ovulation. The walls 
of the oviduct are lined with thread-like filaments 
called cilia, which sweep the ova along the passage 
in the direction of the uterus. At the same time the 
sperm cells move up from the vagina by means of their 
flagella and when one of them meets an ovum fertiliza- 



REPRODUCTION 93 

tion takes place. After the ovum is fertilized it con- 
tinues to move downward until it enters the uterus, 
where it finds the mucous membrane that forms the 
uterine lining so swollen and softened that it has no 
difficulty in forming an attachment to it, after which 
it continues its development. In the dog, as I said, 
several ova (commonly six to eight) develop at the 
same time, but the process of fertilization is the same 
in all mammalia, whether it is single or multiple. 

As the mammalian ovum is not provided with any 
means of nourishment such as the chick possesses in 
the yolk and white of the egg, some other form of 
sustenance is necessary. For a little while after the 
ovum becomes attached to the wall of the uterus it is 
nourished by the blood vessels in the uterine mucous 
membrane, but in a short time blood vessels begin to 
form in the ovum itself and a connection is established 
between them and the blood vessels in the uterus by 
means of an organ called the placenta, which is pres- 
ent only in mammals. The placenta is a flat round 
mass composed of soft, spongy tissue and full of blood 
vessels communicating on one side with those in the 
uterus and on the other with the vessels developing in 
the ovum. By means of this arrangement the 
embryo, as the ovum at this stage of its development 
is called, derives nourishment from its mother until it 
is ready to separate from her. The period of time 
during which the developing embryo remains in the 



94 GIRL AND WOMAN 

uterus is called pregnancy. Its duration differs in dif- 
ferent animals; in the dog it is sixty days. At the 
end of it violent contractions of the uterus come on, 
as in the case of the bird, and the young animal is 
forced out of the uterus through the vagina to the ex- 
terior ; in other words it is born. This process of ex- 
pulsion from the uterus is called delivery. After the 
animal has been expelled from the uterus the placenta 
also is expelled and the connection between the two is 
severed. 

But the young animal is feeble and helpless, wholly 
unable to help itself or care for itself as the little chick 
can do, and therefore entirely dependent upon its 
mother for protection and nourishment. The means 
for its nourishment are provided by glands called the 
mammary glands, which secrete milk just as other 
glands in the body secrete saliva or the digestive fer- 
ments. There is one peculiarity, however, about the 
mammary glands, which is that instead of being more 
or less active at all times, as in other cases, they only 
begin to secrete when a young mammal is born and 
their secretion is needed. As soon as the little animal 
is old enough to eat ordinary food and the demand 
upon the mammary glands is over the secretion ceases. 

I have not yet described the process of development 
in the ovum after fertilization because there is not 
sufficient resemblance between the process in cold;, 
blooded and warm-blooded animals (after the first 



REPRODUCTION 95 

stage of cell division is over) to make it worth while 
to take up the matter before reaching this point. In 
all mammals, however, the process is the same and the 
only difference between them and birds is that the 
nourishment furnished by the yolk in birds is supplied 
in mammals by the placenta. 

The outlines of the process in mammalia are as fol- 
lows: The ovum, as soon as it is fertilized, begins 
a process known as segmentation, that is to say of re- 
peated cell division. The one-celled ovum divides 
into two, the two new cells into four, the four into 
eight, the eight into sixteen and so on until, finally, 
there is a mass of cells too numerous to count. After 
segmentation has reached a certain point the cells 
separate themselves into distinct masses and those con- 
tained in each mass assume special characteristics. 
The masses then proceed to develop in different posi- 
tions and upon different planes, the various parts of 
the body being all evolved in this way. The study of 
the different stages in the development of either the 
mammal or the chick is one of the most fascinating 
branches of scientific investigation and has been fol- 
lowed with great minuteness, but it is far too complex 
to be described here, even in the most superficial man- 
ner. All that can be said is that every organ or tissue 
of the body, whether of the human being, the dog, the 
bird, or any other animal is formed by the multiplica- 
tion and specialization of cells, the special character- 



96 GIRL AND WOMAN 

istics of each kind appearing at a definite point in its de- 
velopment. What is, perhaps, the most wonderful 
thing in the whole remarkable process is that, no mat- 
ter whether the organism is low or high in the scale of 
life, no matter whether it is a human being or an 
ameba or anything between, the first step is always the 
same, that is the division of one cell into two. In the 
ameba this single division is all; in the human being 
it constitutes merely the first step in a most compli- 
cated process occupying a period of months; but the 
fundamental stage is the same in both, as well as in 
every form of life between them. 

The process of reproduction in the human being is 
the same in all essentials as it is in the dog or any 
other mammal, though it has, of course, certain 
individual peculiarities. The ovaries in women are 
two thick oval bodies, about the size of bantams' eggs, 
situated in the extreme lower part of the abdomen. 
Ovulation takes place in the human being in the same 
manner as in the dog, but at intervals of four weeks. 
At these intervals the ovaries*become swollen and con- 
gested in consequence of changes taking place in the 
ova with which they are filled. If an ovum is ready 
for fertilization it approaches the surface of the ovary 
and the thick outer capsule breaks down at that point, 
after which it is caught by the fringed border of the 
oviduct, passes into the interior, and proceeds down- 
ward. If the ovum does not meet with any sperm 



REPRODUCTION 97 

cells as it passes down, it dies and disappears, but if 
the sperm cells are introduced into the vagina at that 
time, one of them will probably encounter the ovum in 
the upper part of the oviduct and fertilization will take 
place. But as only one ovum is cast off at each ovula- 
tion, fertilization is not so sure to take place in the 
human being as in the lower mammals where several 
ova are thrown off at a time. 

The fertilized ovum continues to descend until it ar- 
rives in the uterus, where it becomes attached to the 
wall and is nourished by the placenta in the manner al- 
ready described, the only difference in the human be- 
ing being that nine months are required for the de- 
velopment of the embryo. At the end of that time it 
is expelled by muscular contractions as in the dog, 
but here there is an important difference, for whereas 
in animals these contractions are accompanied by only 
a slight amount of pain, in the human being they are 
attended by very severe suffering. After the uterus is 
emptied of its contents, it gradually returns to its 
former size, which has, of course, been greatly en- 
larged by the developing embryo. This process re- 
quires four weeks for its accomplishment and it is of 
the utmost importance to a woman's future health 
that it should not be interfered with by over-exertion 
of any kind. 

The great peculiarity of the reproductive process in 
human beings, which distinguishes it from the process 



98 GIRL AND WOMAN 

in any other of the mammalia, is that it is accompan- 
ied by the function known as menstruation. This 
condition is peculiar to human beings though it exists 
in a modified form in certain monkeys. Its mechan- 
ism is as follows : In ovulation the swelling and con- 
gestion of the uterus and ovaries is very well marked 
and under its influence the smaller blood vessels in 
the mucous membrane lining the uterus break down, 
causing a flow of blood which passes out of the vagina, 
becoming mixed with more or less mucous secreted by 
the vaginal glands as it passes through. This hemor- 
rhage, as a rule, accompanies every ovulation as long 
as the ovum is not fertilized, recurring at intervals of 
four weeks until reproductive activity is over, which 
usually happens between forty and fifty years of age. 
If fertilization takes place, however, ovulation and 
menstruation cease until after delivery, and in many 
cases they are also absent as long as the child is de- 
pendent upon its mother for nourishment and the 
mammary glands are secreting. 

The cause of menstruation is not yet understood. 
All that we do know in regard to it at present is that it 
is in some way connected with ovulation and that it 
usually, though not invariably takes place at the same 
time. Menstruation exerts a marked influence upon 
the lives of girls and women and its relation to health 
is of such importance that it is important they should 
understand all the facts in regard to it. Much harm 



REPRODUCTION 99 

has been done in the past by ignorance of the real 
facts concerning it and even more by profane and 
old wives' fables circulated in regard to it. In order, 
therefore, that the facts may be fully understood in 
their right relations, the next chapter is devoted ex- 
clusively to the subject. 



CHAPTER V 

MENSTRUATION 

Age of first menstruation — Influences affecting its appear- 
ance — Length of interval between periods — Duration of 
periods — Amount — Care of health during menstruation 
— Dysmenorrhea — Amenorrhea — Menorrhagia. 

I 

Menstruation is the name given to the discharge 
of mucous and blood that takes place from the uterus 
at regular intervals during the reproductive period of 
a woman's life. We do not yet understand its cause. 
All that we do know about it at present, as was said 
in the last chapter, is that it is closely associated with 
the process of ovulation and usually, though not in- 
variably, takes place at the same time. 

The appearance of menstruation shows that the re- 
productive organs have reached maturity and begun 
the exercise of their function. There is no fixed age 
for its establishment, or rather for the establishment 
of ovulation, which it represents, since they both de- 
pend upon the development of the reproductive system, 
and this is influenced by various causes. Climate and 
race are among these influences, the women of warm 
ioo 



MENSTRUATION 101 

southern countries coming to maturity, as a rule, ear- 
lier than those in the colder northern climates. In the 
United States the average age for menstruation is a 
little over fourteen, but there are many cases in 
which it is earlier or later than this. It is a matter of 
common observation that menstruation is apt to ap- 
pear at about the same time in different members of 
the same family, and that it generally begins at the 
same age in mothers and daughters. Consequently, 
whenever it has been unusually early or late in one 
generation, it may be expected to be so in the next. 

But of all the conditions that influence the age of 
first menstruation, stimulation of the nervous system 
and the state of the general health are the most power- 
ful. Any circumstance in a girl's life that stimulates 
the mind or the emotions is likely to favor early' men- 
struation. City girls generally menstruate earlier 
than country girls, because they live under conditions 
of higher pressure and are exposed to the forcing ef- 
fects of constant notice, social intercourse, and all the 
pressure of an over-full life. The age of first men- 
struation is also influenced by the condition of the gen- 
eral health, that is to say, it is apt to be delayed in 
cases where the health is below the proper standard. 
In girls of the poorer classes, who are habitually over- 
worked and underfed, it almost always appears later 
than in those in more comfortable circumstances. 

Owing to the presence or absence of these various 



102 GIRL AND WOMAN 

influences, the appearance of menstruation varies over 
a limit of some years, and while the average age is 
about fourteen years, it may appear as early as eleven 
or as late as eighteen, without any reason for anxiety. 

Over-early menstruation is a matter for regret, 
however, because the periodical loss to the blood-mak- 
ing system is a drain upon the strength, and even more 
because it shows a premature physical development; 
but there is no reason for fancying that it indicates 
the presence of disease in the organs concerned. On 
the contrary, the early establishment of menstruation 
shows that the reproductive powers are unusually 
strong and vigorous. 

Delay in first menstruation usually proceeds from 
depreciation of the general health, resulting in retarded 
development of every kind, the condition making itself 
known by pallor, loss of flesh, and all the customary 
signs of impaired health. That the menstrual func- 
tion should not appear under these circumstances is 
no reason for uneasiness ; on the contrary, it is a thing 
for which to be thankful, because it saves the vital 
powers from a tax upon their resources which they are 
not in a condition to support. The absence of the 
function may, however, be taken as evidence that the 
general health requires attention. 

There are a few rare cases where menstruation fails 
to appear at the customary age, because the reproduc- 
tive organs are imperfectly developed. When this 



MENSTRUATION 103 

happens, the general health shows no sign of depre- 
ciation, in fact, it may be actually robust, but the usual 
indications of approaching physical maturity are ab- 
sent. When menstruation does not appear at the age 
at which it might reasonably be expected, the family 
doctor ought to be consulted, but there is no occasion 
for seeking the advice of a specialist (unless the doctor 
recommends doing so) and on no account whatever 
should medicine be given to stimulate the How. It 
cannot possibly do good and it may do a great deal of 
harm. 

There is only one condition in which the failure of 
the menstrual function to appear at the usual age 
need cause anxiety and this is when the non-appear- 
ance is due to the presence of mechanical obstruction. 
This condition is of extreme rarity, but when it does 
exist it is easily recognized and should never be 
neglected. It may be suspected when attacks of pain 
in the abdomen accompanied by headache and, per- 
haps, bleeding at the nose, appear at about the time 
menstruation might be expected and recur at intervals 
corresponding, in a rough way, to the periods. The 
physical signs of puberty are also present. A special- 
ist ought to be consulted without delay, for neglect 
may result in serious consequences and the treatment 
should be carried out only by a specialist. 

The period of life at which ovulation and men- 
struation begin is called puberty. It is the most im- 



104 GIRL AND WOMAN 

portant phase in the development of girlhood and re- 
quires the utmost care, both physically and mentally. 
The daily life at this time should be as regular and 
healthy as possible. Food ought to be abundant and 
nourishing but simple, and it is a great mistake to al- 
low the use of tea or coffee or any other stimulant 
habitually. As many hours of the day as possible 
should be passed in the open air. A girl at this age 
(from twelve to fifteen) usually spends her morn- 
ings in school, but her afternoons ought not to have 
any claim upon them which interferes with her being 
out of doors until dark. If she goes to a school that 
has two sessions, she must spend all the time between 
them, not occupied with dinner, out of doors, as well 
as any daylight that remains after the second session 
closes. Her work at school must be carefully 
watched, and if she shows signs of more than passing 
fatigue, it must be lessened, no matter whether her 
standing in class is injured or not. This .question is 
fully considered in the discussion of education, for it 
is one of great importance. Above all things, there 
must be abundance of sleep. This is a point upon 
which a girl's necessities are not always appreciated. 
Everyone agrees that a child ought to be in bed by nine 
o'clock at the latest, but unfortunately there is a com- 
mon impression that about the time a little girl enters 
what are called her " teens," she is getting old enough 
to do with less sleep and may, therefore, go to bed 



MENSTRUATION 105 

later. But this is exactly the time when she is begin- 
ning to grow most rapidly and her physical necessities 
as regards every kind of nutrition are greater than at 
any other time in her life. Her mind is developing 
in all directions, and most significant of all, her sexual 
system is just reaching maturity and her nervous sys- 
tem is more or less disorganized in consequence. In 
fact, it is only necessary to consider these things to 
perceive that this is no time to curtail her allowance 
of sleep any more than her allowance of food. Her 
nervous system, in particular requires frequent periods 
of repose, because if it is unduly stimulated, there is 
risk of over-early maturity, and nothing protects the 
nervous system so effectively as abundance of healthy 
sleep. 

Amusement and pleasure are not only desirable, but 
really necessary at this time in life, when the mind and 
body are charged with activity ; but they ought to be of 
a kind suited to their undeveloped condition. Enter- 
tainments that keep a girl up until midnight and later 
must not be allowed except on the rarest occasions. 
To put the matter in a few words, the more the life of 
a girl during the period of puberty resembles the life 
of the child before the period began, the better for 
body and mind. She cannot of course, live exactly as- 
she did in her childhood, for her mind is developing 
fast and her position in the world around her is chang- 
ing rapidly; but the kindest and wisest thing that can 



106 GIRL AND WOMAN 

be done for her is to encourage her to do so as far 
as possible. 

The general health at puberty is sometimes good ; in 
other cases more or less upset. The strain upon the 
physical powers caused by the establishment of the re- 
productive functions is more in some instances than 
can be borne without some degree of failure. This 
temporary weakness of the bodily powers takes vari- 
ous forms, according to individual constitution. The 
only thing which can be done is to exercise patience 
and good sense. All the different means of improv- 
ing the general health, including medical advice, should 
be tried, and this being done, it is safe to trust that 
everything will come right in the end. 

From time immemorial the interval between the 
menstrual periods, that is to say, between the periods 
of ovulation, has been accepted as twenty-eight days, 
or one lunar month. This apparent connection be- 
tween the return of the function and the changes of 
the moon has caused the belief among uncivilized peo- 
ple that it is under the moon's influence. In a few 
rare cases the regular interval is more or less than 
four weeks, but these are most unusual. In one 
analysis of a thousand cases of menstruation in healthy 
women, it has been found that the interval was twenty- 
eight days in 942 cases, while out of the remaining 58 
the interval was twenty-one days in more than half. 
In other words, the twenty-eight-day type existed in 



MENSTRUATION 107 

over nine-tenths of the cases, and of the variations 
upon it, the twenty-one-day type was by far the most 
frequent. 

Four weeks then, may be accepted as the regular 
interval. If another type is established in the begin- 
ning and continues regularly without disturbance of 
health, it is normal in that particular instance ; but such 
exceptions are very rare. In this respect, as in the age 
of first menstruation, family peculiarities assert them- 
selves strongly, and any variation from the established 
custom in one generation will probably appear in the 
next. 

During the first years of menstruation, the interval 
between the periods is apt to be irregular, because the 
development of the organs is not complete nor is the 
function fully established. Sometimes these early ir- 
regularities are considerable. For example, after the 
first period, there may be no return of the function for 
six months, or even a year. Permanent regularity is 
sometimes established in the course of a few months; 
in other cases it takes two or three years; in a few 
instances the function is perfectly regular from the 
beginning. After regularity is once established there 
ought not to be more than a few days' variation in one 
direction or the other. But trivial irregularities of a 
day or two are not at all uncommon and there is no 
reason whatever for uneasiness on their account. 
Their cause is not understood, but it probably lies in 



io8 GIRL AND WOMAN 

some influence of the central nervous system. With 
some women these irregularities occur constantly all 
through menstrual life; with others, the function re- 
turns regularly almost to the hour as long as it con- 
tinues. Some of the books written on the subject for 
the general public lay far too much stress upon the 
necessity of absolute regularity to health, which is a 
pity, because it is apt to excite needless anxiety in re- 
gard to trivial variations. 

In married women menstruation ceases, as described 
in the last chapter, whenever an ovum is fertilized, 
and does not return until after delivery. 

The duration of the menstrual period differs in dif- 
ferent women, that is to say, each woman has her own 
individual standard which may be several days longer 
or shorter than that of another woman. The time 
may be as short as twenty-four hours and as long as 
seven days. But both of these types are extreme and 
exist in only a few cases. The usual time is from two 
to six days, four to five days being the most common 
type. Whatever duration is established in each indi- 
vidual instance is the proper thing for that particular 
girl. Irregularity in the length of the period is of 
more consequence than irregularity in the intervals 
between them, and merits more attention. 

The amount of the menstrual discharge also varies 
greatly in different women, what is normal for one be- 
ing excessive for another, or deficient for a third. 



MENSTRUATION 109 

One fact, however, which is the same in all cases, is 
that the greater part of the flow is during the first two 
days, so that there is not so much difference as might 
be imagined between cases lasting three or four, and 
those lasting six or seven days. To estimate the exact 
amount of menstruation is very difficult; in fact it is 
impossible to do so with absolute accuracy, but the 
common way of estimating by the number of protec- 
tives used, rough as it is, answers the purpose fairly 
well. Speaking generally, it may be said that if more 
than two in twenty-four hours are really needed, the 
flow is too free ; but there are many exceptions to this 
standard with women in perfect health. The import- 
ant point, however, is not so much the actual amount 
as the presence of increase or decrease from estab- 
lished custom in any individual case, and this fact is 
easily determined by the usual mode of estimating. 
If the number of protectives employed is more than is 
customary for one or two successive periods, the rea- 
son for the change should be investigated. In young 
girls it will almost always be found in some disturb- 
ance of the general health. 

Care of the general health at the menstrual period 
during girlhood is most important, especially while 
the function is becoming established, but this does not 
mean that it is necessary for a healthy girl to upset 
the usual routine of her life. Theoretically, of course, 
a girl ought not to know any difference, as far as her 



no GIRL AND WOMAN 

sensations are concerned, between the menstrual 
periods and the intervals between them, but practi- 
cally such a state of things is uncommon, especially 
among Americans. The rush and pressure of our 
modern life, with all its varied demands upon the in- 
telligence and the senses, has made our nervous sys- 
tems more sensitive than they ought to be, even when 
the general health is good, and as a result, the process 
of ovulation is generally accompanied by more or less 
nervous excitement, which expresses itself in pain 
and discomfort associated with menstruation. The 
amount and the nature of the disturbance vary with 
different persons, and even with the same person at 
different times, but not many women escape alto- 
gether. The proportion of cases entirely free from 
suffering or discomfort has been recently investigated 
by a German woman, Miss Tobler, who found that out 
of one thousand women and girls whom she ques- 
tioned on the subject, only sixteen per cent were alto- 
gether free from discomfort of any kind. 

The disturbance accompanying menstruation may 
be local, that is, situated in the region of the uterus 
and ovaries, or it may be reflex, that is, reflected to 
some other part of the body. It may vary from the 
most trivial discomfort to acute suffering. In what 
might be considered an average case, there is more or 
less pain in the lower abdomen, extending down the 
limbs, with languor and nervous irritability, and, pos- 



MENSTRUATION in 

sibly, some headache. Usually the disturbance begins 
a little before menstruation appears and passes off as 
the flow, which is apt to be scanty at first, becomes 
more free. Sometimes, instead of local pain, there is 
severe headache and marked excitement or else de- 
pression. 

In a normal case these symptoms are not severe 
enough to incapacitate a girl ; indeed, if they are, the 
case is not normal. Care is required at the periods 
mainly from motives of prevention, for, as all the dis- 
comforts attending the function are due to disturbance 
of the central nervous system, it is the nervous system 
which requires relief from strain at these times, and 
if period after period passes without any measures be- 
ing taken for rest and relief, the nerves will almost 
certainly become unduly sensitive, after which the 
suffering at the periods is very severe. A girl her- 
self is not, of course, sufficiently informed at the 1 
time menstruation begins to comprehend the necessity 
for care, nor the best means of taking it; it is her 
mother upon whom this responsibility must rest. But 
sometimes it happens that, with the best intentions, a 
mother may err from a lack of the requisite knowl- 
edge. She may advise too little care, because she is 
honestly persuaded that it is best to take as little no- 
tice of the matter as possible; but more often, she will 
go to the other extreme and pay too much attention 
to it. 



<ii2 GIRL AND WOMAN 

An old-fashioned idea, which possesses considerable 
hold in some quarters, is that the first day of the period 
should always be passed in bed even by girls who are 
altogether free from suffering. Such a thing is pos- 
sible, of course, only with people of leisure, but it has 
a much stronger hold among them than it deserves. 
The public, however, can hardly be blamed for lending 
itself to the idea, when it originated with the medical 
profession. It is only within comparatively recent 
years that the diseases peculiar to women and the con- 
ditions associated with their reproductive organs have 
been understood, and the first effect of advancing 
knowledge upon the subject was to give physicians an 
exaggerated idea of the necessity for caution in all 
such matters, which very shortly extended itself to the 
laity. Out of this mistaken view grew the impression 
that the only way in which menstruation could be 
performed normally and without distressing suffering 
was for every woman to spend at any rate the first part 
of the period in absolute quiet and, if possible, in bed, 
especially during girlhood, when the function was just 
established. But as our knowledge of ovulation and 
menstruation developed, it became more and more 
plain that in this respect our zeal has outrun discretion. 
We know that menstruation is a normal function, fill- 
ing a natural place in the life of women, and that in 
simpler and more primitive conditions of life it is 
free from any discomfort whatever. It is foolish, 



MENSTRUATION 113 

therefore, to treat it as something approaching illness. 
Isolation and semi-invalidism are almost certain to do 
harm; they are greatly to be regretted in cases where 
they are made necessary by severe suffering, and to 
inflict them arbitrarily upon a healthy girl is a risk to 
her health and her disposition. The essential point in 
the care of menstruation is to remember that it is asso- 
ciated with a certain amount of nervous excitability, 
and therefore it is advisable to keep the nervous sys- 
tem as free as possible from strain or excitement. 

There is no reason why a healthy girl should not go 
to school, at any rate after the function is fully es- 
tablished, nor that she should not walk there, if she is 
in the habit of doing so and the distance is not great. 
But her school work ought to be carefully watched and 
it may be better to keep her at home for a few periods 
while the function is becoming established. Teachers 
are usually willing and even anxious to save their pu- 
pils at such times, — the difficulty lies with the girls 
themselves, who are afraid of losing standing in their 
work. It is a good plan to explain carefully to a girl 
how much good a little care at these times will do for 
her future comfort and health, to say nothing of her 
ultimate standing in the school. Many a girl has had 
to leave school altogether in her last year, because she 
would not take, or would not submit to the necessary 
precautions during her earlier years there. Examina- 
tions at school and at college cannot usually be avoided, 



ii4 GIRL AND WOMAN 

but they happen only occasionally ; the great point is to 
relieve habitual strain and high pressure. 

But while the customary amount of exertion at the 
menstrual periods may not be harmful, it is not the 
time to undertake any extra effort, whether mental or 
physical. On the contrary, the customary burden 
should, if possible, be lightened. Most girls can cal- 
culate the time of the next period with sufficient ac- 
curacy to avoid making engagements that will involve 
over fatigue or excitement, and if they cannot do so, 
or claims turn up unexpectedly, they ought to be post- 
poned. Girls who lead leisure lives ought to lie down 
for an hour or two in the afternoon and take a nap, 
if they can. A girl who is working for herself, can- 
not often do this, but if she will go to bed an hour or 
two earlier than usual while menstruation lasts, it will 
do nearly as well. Violent or prolonged exertion is 
always objectionable. Athletic sports had better be 
given up, especially hockey and basket-ball. There 
are some strong, vigorous girls who can keep up these 
amusements without suffering from doing so, but not 
many of them are equal to such a practice, and no mat- 
ter how strong a girl is, she ought not to play in a 
match game, not only because the physical exertion is 
too great, but because the excitement and nervous 
strain involved in the competition are the most injuri- 
ous things she can possibly endure. 

I repeat that the essential thing in the hygiene of 



MENSTRUATION 115 

the menstrual period is that the burden of life, whether 
in mental or physical relations, shall be lightened in 
one way or another, especially during the earlier part 
of the time. On the principle that everyone knows 
where his own shoe pinches, each girl can decide better 
than anyone else can for her, just what particular pur- 
suit tries or fatigues her most. Whatever this pur- 
suit may be, it is what should be given up or modified 
for the time being. 

One curious fact in regard to this matter is that 
girls who are ready to believe and acquiesce in the ne- 
cessity for bodily rest and relief are often hard to con- 
vince as to the need for mental relaxation. The idea 
that concessions should be made from the mental side 
is apparently hard to instill ; nevertheless, it is most im- 
portant that it should be acquired, for not only does 
health suffer in the long run from mental strain and 
effort during menstruation, but mental work does. 
The majority of girls will find that the effect of men- 
struation is apt to show in their work, even when they 
are free from suffering or marked discomfort and a 
candid girl will admit the fact. The memory is not 
quite so good, the judgment is disturbed in its bal- 
ance, the temper is a trifle irritable, the emotions less 
under control. All these things point plainly to the ne- 
cessity for care, and experience has shown that if 
allowance is not made in these things, they will grow 
and increase as the years go on, until the discomforts 



n6 GIRL AND WOMAN 

which seem so trifling at first become a serious burden. 

Protection from weather and from changes of tem- 
perature while menstruation lasts is important, for any 
sudden chill to che surface is liable to check the flow, 
and the suppression may be accompanied by a great 
deal of suffering at the time, to say nothing of possi- 
ble bad effects in the future. Little risks in the way 
of insufficient clothing or exposure, which, under or- 
dinary circumstances may be allowable, for sufficient 
reason, ought not to be taken at this time ; in particular 
no one should ever sit with wet feet or wet clothing. 

There was an old-fashioned idea that a cold bath 
must never be taken during the menstrual period, be- 
cause it would check the flow and cause suppression 
with all its attendant evils; but the belief is entirely 
a mistaken one. There is certainly danger in pro- 
longed exposure to cold or damp, but the brisk reaction 
following a cold bath, properly taken, prevents any 
danger. A plunge into a tub full of cold water is 
not always safe, though many girls take such baths 
without the slightest ill effects; but a cold sponge 
bath followed by friction with a coarse towel, in the 
manner described elsewhere, can be taken by any one. 
Sometimes, however, a daily warm bath is more ac- 
ceptable and relieves discomfort more than a cold 
sponge. At least twice a day the parts exposed to the 
menstrual discharge ought to be washed with warm 
water and soap, and as soon as the function is over 



MENSTRUATION 117 

a full tub bath of warm water ought always to be 
taken. 

Many women are in the habit of using a vaginal 
douche after menstruation ceases, but it is a mistake 
to teach young girls to do so. It is not at all neces- 
sary, for external cleanliness can be maintained with- 
out it and the interior of the vagina will take care of 
itself. To introduce anything, no matter how care- 
fully, into the vagina is undesirable, for the mem- 
brane at the entrance is liable to be injured or stretched 
in doing so. 

The diet during menstruation should be simple and 
unstimulating. Any kind of food that is suitable at 
other times is suitable then. It would not be worth 
while to mention the subject, were it not that there are 
various fanciful ideas abroad as to the effect of certain 
articles of food upon the function. There is no evi- 
dence whatever to support these theories. Some girls 
suffer from indigestion during menstruation and when 
this happens, the diet must of course be adapted to 
the necessities of the case. 

Finally, one most important point in the care of the 
health during the menstrual period is, regulation of the 
bowels. A great deal of discomfort and even actual 
suffering arises from constipation at such times, and if 
the bowels are not kept open, comfort during men- 
struation cannot be expected. Sometimes a full dose 
of some saline laxative such as Hunyadi Janos or 



n8 GIRL AND WOMAN 

Apenta water, taken just before menstruation is due, 
or if that is impossible, immediately upon its appear- 
ance, will relieve discomfort or pain altogether. 

II 

We must now proceed to consider the various ways 
in which the menstrual function can depart from nor- 
mal and the effects of such departure. The most 
common of all such disturbances is the presence of the 
condition known as dysmenorrhea, or painful men- 
struation. It is not altogether easy, however, to say 
exactly what constitutes dysmenorrhea. If the men- 
strual function took place in general without any pain 
whatever, the presence of suffering in any degree 
would make the necessary distinction ; but, as a certain 
amount of pain seems to be natural and inevitable un- 
der our present conditions of life in most cases, the 
definition must rest upon some other basis. It has 
been proposed to consider dysmenorrhea present when- 
ever the suffering is so severe as to keep a girl in bed, 
but this is a most misleading distinction. A girl who 
has nothing to do but to consider her own comfort, 
will stay in bed, when another who must work for her 
living or provide for the comfort of others, will man- 
age to keep up and about, though she is suffering quite 
as much or more. Again, an indolent fanciful girl, 
who rather enjoys being an invalid, will yield to a 
comparative trifling amount of pain, which a sensible 



MENSTRUATION 119 

determined girl who dislikes sickness, will disregard. 
Of course no doubt exists in cases where the pain is 
severe and prolonged; in other, more doubtful cases, 
the only way is to consider all the circumstances in 
each instance and form an opinion upon the merits of 
the case. 

The first thing to be understood about dysmenor- 
rhea is that it does not necessarily indicate the pres- 
ence of any disease or displacement in the uterus or 
ovaries. In fact, the number of cases of dysmenor- 
rhea in which such disease is present is comparatively 
small. Of one thousand patients treated at the 
Johns Hopkins Hospital for dysmenorrhea, only a 
little over a quarter had any actual disease or displace- 
ment. Moreover, not only can menstruation be ac- 
companied by the most extreme suffering without the 
presence of any abnormal condition of the organs con- 
cerned, but advanced disease or marked displacement 
can exist without the presence of any menstrual suf- 
fering whatever. The more we learn, in fact, about 
menstruation the more plainly do we see that the suf- 
fering associated with it is an expression of nervous 
irritability excited by the presence of ovulation. Its 
presence or absence, therefore, depends, not upon the 
condition of the organs themselves, but upon the con- 
dition of the central nervous system. 

There are two distinct types of menstrual pain. 
One of them, which is the commoner of the two, is a 



120 GIRL AND WOMAN 

sharp, cramp-like pain in the lower abdomen, coming 
on in paroxysms, which last for a minute or two and 
then subside, to return after a brief interval. This 
form of pain begins as soon as menstruation appears, 
or else just before it does so, and subsides gradually as 
the flow becomes fully established, disappearing alto- 
gether in the course of a few hours or, at most, by the 
end of the first day. In the other variety of dys- 
menorrhea, the pain is of a dull, diffused nature, 
spreading out through the back and down the thighs. 
It begins, as a rule, a day or two before menstruation 
and lasts all through the period, not being relieved by 
the establishment of the flow to the same extent as 
the other variety. Sometimes both kinds of suffering 
occur in the same case, the spasmodic form being 
added, as it were, to the duller one. Both of them are 
apt to be accompanied by nervous manifestations of 
different kinds, which show how greatly the nervous 
system is involved. Headache is the commonest of 
the nervous symptoms, and also languor, with ex- 
haustion and depression of spirits or else nervous ir- 
ritability. 

But, in addition to these symptoms which have 
come to be accepted as characteristic, there is hardly 
an organ or function of the body which is not some- 
times affected by menstruation. Nausea and vomiting 
are not at all uncommon, as well as pain in the joints, 
resembling rheumatism or gout. Attacks of sick 



MENSTRUATION 121 

headache, if they are constitutional, are apt to occur at 
this time. The eyesight is often temporarily affected, 
and eruptions of the skin are quite common. In short, 
there is no part or organ of the body which is not 
sometimes affected by the central disturbance that ac- 
companies the periodical return of the reproductive 
function and the process of ovulation in which the lat- 
ter culminates. 

The point of most importance in dysmenorrhea, of 
course, is the question of its relief, both temporarily 
and permanently, and this involves another question 
also of importance, namely, whether local treatment 
by a specialist is necessary to that end. I may say 
here once and for all, that in the case of a young girl 
local treatment is hardly ever necessary and that every 
expedient for relief ought to be tried before having 
recourse to it. This is a point which cannot be too 
strongly emphasized. We know that the condition of 
the nervous system is the essential factor in dysmenor- 
rhea, and we know that the condition can exist in the 
most severe form without any disease or displacement 
whatever. Therefore, it is certainly only reasonable 
that every other means of relief should be tried be- 
fore resorting to one which is open to serious objec- 
tions. 

Of all the various measures of relieving dysmenor- 
rhea at the command of the patient herself or her 
friends, by far the most important is rest. It is just 



122 GIRL AND WOMAN 

as important that a girl who suffers from painful men- 
struation should remain in bed during part, at least, of 
the period, as that a healthy one, with no more than 
trivial discomfort, should not. 

Every case of dysmenorrhea ought to be kept in 
bed as long as the pain continues, whether it is only 
twenty- four hours or a week. It is a good thing to 
begin to rest, whenever possible, a little before the flow 
appears. No employment, except the lightest kind of 
reading, should be allowed. 

If the general health is at all poor, and it often is, 
everything should be done to build it up, with fresh 
air, exercise, tonics, and all the various measures that 
good sense can suggest. Sometimes the appetite is so 
poor that a girl really cannot eat enough at her regu- 
lar meals for her needs, and when this happens she 
ought to have something light and nourishing, such as 
a glass of milk or some bouillon between them, as well 
as on going to bed at night. Abundance of sleep is 
really the most important remedy, next to rest at the 
periods. A girl suffering from dysmenorrhea ought 
never to be out of bed later than nine o'clock, unless 
she takes a long nap in the afternoon. During the 
regular rest at the periods she ought to sleep all that 
she possibly can. Late hours and excitement must be 
carefully avoided. A school girl with dysmenorrhea 
should never be sent to school during the period, or if 
the period is a long one and the pain does not last all 



MENSTRUATION 123 

through it, not for the first three days ; neither should 
she be allowed, far less encouraged, to undertake any- 
thing in connection with her studies which involves her 
in competitive efforts. 

The bowels should be open, and at the time of the 
periods they should be a little relaxed. This is a 
point of the greatest importance. Many young girls 
are extremely careless in regard to the condition of 
the bowels and will often declare that they have no 
trouble at all in this respect, when they are really suf- 
fering severely from constipation, not because they 
intend to deceive, but because they are so ignorant 
and careless that they really do not know what the true 
state of things is. Change of climate often has a 
great effect upon dysmenorrhea through its effect upon 
the nervous system. 

If the regimen prescribed is faithfully kept up, par- 
ticularly the rest in bed, for some months or a year, 
there will, in many cases, be a most marked improve- 
ment, and in not a few, complete recovery. It may be 
necessary, however, to keep up the rest part of the 
treatment even after the suffering is relieved, because 
its abandonment is followed by a return of the pain. 

The question of temporary relief while the more 
permanent treatment is being carried out deserves a 
word or two. Heat, applied both externally and in- 
ternally, is the surest means of relieving the pain. Hot 
water-bags, or hot sand-bags applied over the seat 



124 GIRL AND WOMAN 

of pain is the best external means. Another excel- 
lent remedy, which combines heat and counter-irrita- 
tion, is a mustard plaster over the lower abdomen. A 
hot mustard foot-bath often does good, especially 
when there is much headache. It should be made with 
two teaspoonsful of mustard to a tub-full of water as 
hot as can be borne, and more hot water should be 
added from time to time when the temperature of the 
water begins to go down. 

Hot drinks often give relief. Tea and coffee, which 
had better not be used habitually in girlhood, are 
sometimes a great resource at these times, for the com- 
bination of heat and mild stimulation does a great deal 
of good to a person not accustomed to them. Alco- 
holic stimulants must never be taken except at the 
doctor's advice. There is a common impression, es- 
pecially among uneducated persons, that hot whisky 
and water or hot gin and water, particularly the lat- 
ter, are the best possible remedies, but the idea ought 
to be systematically discouraged. To use alcohol for 
the relief of any pain that returns at stated intervals, 
is never without risk. 

There are hardly any medicines which ought to be 
taken without a physician's order. Opium, in particu- 
lar, must never be used in any form unless so ordered. 
If a girl is suffering sufficiently to require opium, she 
is suffering severely enough to need a doctor, and he 
can take the responsibility of giving it. The use of 



MENSTRUATION 125 

patent remedies whose contents are unknown is ob- 
jectionable, because a great many of them contain alco- 
hol, opium, or cocain. Bromide of potash is almost 
the only thing which can safely be used without a 
doctor's advice. It may be taken in powders of twenty 
grains each, dissolved in hot water and repeated in 
two hours. Sometimes it gives considerable relief, 
especially where there is much headache and nervous 
excitability. The compound mixture of helonin, com- 
monly known as " green mixture " from its color, 
may also be taken in doses of half a teaspoonful in hot 
water. 

' If rest and hygienic measures are tried for some 
time without relief, it is a question whether to go on 
longer or to seek the advice of a specialist. It is just 
as foolish and wrong to defer this measure from pro- 
crastination or false modesty as to rush into it un- 
necessarily. Each case must be considered in all 
possible lights before a decision is reached. The main 
points to be considered are whether the suffering in- 
creases with each period, whether there is any pain 
between the periods, and whether the general health is 
becoming depreciated. If these points are all present, 
particularly if the pain is not confined to the periods 
but is more or less present all the time, the possibility 
of some local trouble is greater than if they are not. 
Another point that bears upon the question is the pres- 
ence of a whitish or yellowish discharge from the 
10 



126 GIRL AND WOMAN 

vagina during the intervals between the periods, which 
is always a symptom of importance. 

If then the case, judged by these indications, is 
growing no better, or if circumstances make inval- 
idism at regularly recurring intervals impossible, ac- 
tive measures had better be taken. The best plan is to 
consult a specialist at once, if possible. A general 
practitioner should not, at any rate, be allowed to 
make a local examination, for it is impossible to feel 
secure unless it is done by a specialist, and if he is 
to be resorted to in the end, there is no use in taking 
an inefficient measure in the beginning. It may not 
be inappropriate to say a word here as to the choice 
of a specialist. 

To be guided in the selection by nothing better than 
the advice of friends, each of whom wants to recom- 
mend someone for whom she has a preference, is a 
great mistake. The advice of the family doctor can 
generally be relied upon, and if this is not available 
or reliable, it is best to find out the name of some man 
associated with a good medical school, which can al- 
ways be done by a little inquiry, and consult him. In 
small places, where there are no medical schools, of 
course this plan cannot be adopted, but it is better to 
come to a larger place. A little trouble, effort, and 
money are well expended in doing so. 

Amenorrhea, or deficiency of menstruation, is the 
name given to a diminution of the function, whether 



MENSTRUATION 127 

it takes the form of occurring too seldom, of lasting 
too short a time, or being insufficient in amount. 
When menstruation stops altogether for some months 
or even years the amenorrhea is spoken of as total or 
complete; when it appears irregularly or when it de- 
creases without ceasing altogether, the condition is 
called partial amenorrhea. 

Amenorrhea in young girls proceeds usually from a 
failure of the general health, and occasionally it is the 
result of nervous influences. In acute diseases, such 
as eruptive fevers, or pneumonia, or typhoid, men- 
struation is often, though not always absent.. In 
chronic ailments it is almost always reduced in amount 
or frequency, but does not so often cease altogether. 
In all these conditions the deficiency is a conservative 
process on the part of nature, which is making an ef- 
fort to save the strength. 

One condition in which there is a direct connection 
between amenorrhea and the reproductive organs 
which requires special mention is the disease known 
as chlorosis, in which the red cells of blood, 
which carry oxygen to the tissues, become so 
affected that their capacity to carry oxygen is much 
reduced though their number is not lessened. The 
cause of chlorosis is not yet understood, but we know 
it is frequently connected with the development of the 
uterus and ovaries, or rather with their want of de- 
velopment, for when it exists, these organs are almost 



128 GIRL AND WOMAN 

always small and immature. The complexion in 
chlorosis is not only pale, as it is in simple poverty 
of the blood, but it has the peculiar greenish tinge 
which has given the disease its name. The general 
health is always more or less affected, the particular 
disturbance being different in different cases; some- 
times it shows itself more in the digestion, sometimes 
in disturbance of the heart's action. Menstruation is 
not often absent altogether, but it is always decreased 
in one way or another and sometimes it fails to appear 
until some years after it should do so. The girl 
herself and her relatives are apt to be alarmed by the 
decrease, but there is no reason why they should be; 
it is a characteristic symptom of the condition, arising 
from the undeveloped state of the reproductive organs, 
and it will disappear when they attain their full growth 
and development. 

One thing that must always be remembered in the 
case of a girl with chlorosis, is that though fresh air 
is the most important factor in her recovery, exercise 
is not desirable, partly because the action of the heart 
is sometimes disturbed and partly because it has been 
shown that the blood becomes poorer during exertion 
and richer during rest. Therefore a patient ought to 
sit or lie out of doors as much as possible, but she must 
walk very little. 

Amenorrhea is almost always present in the early 
stages of tuberculosis of the lungs; in fact, it is one 



MENSTRUATION 129 

of the first symptoms of the disease. This fact is gen- 
erally recognized, but the reason for it is misunder- 
stood. There is a common impression that the sup- 
pression of menstruation is the cause of the disease in 
the lungs, and that if the function can only be re- 
established, the lung trouble will disappear. Nothing 
can be more mistaken; the amenorrhea here, as in all 
the other chronic conditions, is the result of nature's 
impulse towards saving the system a loss which it is 
not in a condition to bear. Any attempt to bring on 
the function, therefore, is more likely to do harm than 
good, even if it succeeds, which is not likely. 

The influence of the nervous system in causing 
amenorrhea is extremely marked; in fact it is one 
among various reasons for believing menstruation to 
be under the direct control of the nervous system. 
Sudden grief, violent excitement, or emotion of any 
kind experienced during a period, will cause men- 
struation to stop suddenly, not to return, perhaps, for 
months. Change of climate is often accompanied by 
marked disturbance, a change to the seashore being 
usually followed by a tendency to excess, while change 
to the mountains is attended by a tendency to diminu- 
tion. These disturbances can be partly accounted for 
by the effect of barometric pressure at different alti- 
tudes upon the pressure in the blood vessels, but the 
fact that the same results often follow a change of a 
few miles, shows that nervous influences must be 



130 GIRL AND WOMAN 

involved as well as the atmospheric condition. The 
great English specialist in women's diseases, Dr. Tilt, 
was once consulted by a lady who had recently opened 
a large boarding school for girls near London, because 
so many of her girls suffered from amenorrhea dur- 
ing their first year at school, that she thought there 
must be something unhealthy in the situation. Such 
cases, however, are well known to any physician of 
large experience. 

Amenorrhea seldom or never requires direct treat- 
ment, especially in young girls. As said before, it is 
nature's way of protecting the individual from a loss 
which, for one reason or another, she is not in a con- 
dition to bear. The flow to which the system is accus- 
tomed in health, becomes a drain when the health is 
impaired. The only measures of relief that are ne- 
cessary or desirable are those that restore the general 
health or assist recovery from acute or chronic ail- 
ments upon which the amenorrhea depends. On no 
account whatever should any medicines be taken in- 
ternally, with the object of bringing on or increasing 
the ilow. It is extremely doubtful whether such rem- 
edies succeed in the purpose for which they are taken 
and they may do a great deal of harm. The family 
physician ought to be consulted with reference to the 
general health, but, unless he himself suggests it, the 
advice of a specialist is not necessary or desirable. 
No medicines ought to be given without his sanction 



MENSTRUATION 131 

except, perhaps, iron or cod-liver oil. Fresh air, 
sleep, nourishing food and a healthy life are impera- 
tive and especial care must be taken to keep the bowels 
open, for amenorrhea and constipation go hand-in- 
hand. With the return of health, menstruation will 
reappear, and if health does not return, it is not to be 
desired that menstruation should. 

It sometimes happens that exposure to cold and wet 
during a menstrual period will cause a chill that stops 
the flow altogether, and this kind of suppression may 
be accompanied by acute pain in the lower abdomen, 
and headache. When this occurs, the girl should have 
a hot tub or hip bath and then be put to bed, warmly 
covered up, with hot water bags around her and some 
kind of hot application over the lower part of the 
abdomen. A hot drink is often useful. 

Increase of menstruation, whether of amount, of 
duration, or of frequency is called Menorrhagia. Like 
amenorrhea or dysmenorrhea it is frequently the re- 
sult of general causes, but the possibility of local trou- 
ble in the organs concerned is rather greater than with 
the other disturbances of menstruation. The more 
serious of the conditions causing it do not exist how- 
ever, in young girls, or only in rare instances. It is 
important to remember that menorrhagia is more im- 
portant than amenorrhea or dysmenorrhea, from its 
own nature, irrespective of any condition behind it. 
There is a disposition among women to think that any 



132 GIRL AND WOMAN 

irregularity in menstruation must be of consequence, 
solely because it is a disturbance of established cus- 
tom. This state of mind is largely the result of the 
old idea just now mentioned, which attached far too 
much importance to the possibilities of trouble asso- 
ciated with women's reproductive organs. But it only 
requires a moment's thought to see that any increase 
of the habitual loss must be of more consequence to 
health than a decrease, or even than marked suffering 
in connection with it. Menorrhagia cannot occur 
without depreciating the general condition more or 
less, no matter whether there is any local trouble be- 
hind it or not; and if this loss is continued for any 
length of time, the ill effects will be serious as re- 
gards health. I emphasize these facts because the lack 
of discrimination between the importance of the men- 
orrhagia and other disturbances of menstruation is 
sometimes the cause of a good deal of harm. 

Any marked increase, whether by amount, duration, 
or shortening of the interval between the periods ought 
to receive attention and be brought to the physician's 
notice, but if the increase is very slight or gradual, it 
may escape attention altogether, and even if he in- 
quires in regard to the subject he may be misled, be- 
cause the patient is under a wrong impression herself. 
In any case where a girl's health fails without any 
assignable reason, and all the usual means of building 
it up fail, there is always a possibility that she is suf- 



MENSTRUATION 133 

fering from menorrhagia, so slight in amount or grad- 
ual in its onset that it is unsuspected by herself or any- 
one else. It is always worth while in such a case to 
watch closely for several periods. 

Another point of importance in menorrhagia is that 
the extent of the hemorrhage bears no relation what- 
ever to the extent of the condition causing it. The 
most profuse hemorrhage may, and frequently does, 
proceed from some exceedingly simple local cause, or 
from disturbances of the general health, without any 
local trouble whatever. 

In forming an opinion as to whether menstruation 
is in excess or not, it must always be borne in mind 
that the question is comparative rather than a posi- 
tive one. An amount of flow which is normal in a 
robust full-blooded girl is excessive in a slight delicate 
one, with no blood to spare. But no girl, no matter 
how strong she may be, can stand an increase in the 
amount habitual to her, even though the increase is 
quite small, if it keeps up for several successive pe- 
riods. It is one of the most effectual means in the 
world of breaking down the general health. 

In young girls menorrhagia usually proceeds from 
one of three causes. First, a failure of general health, 
which instead of being accompanied, as it commonly 
is, by a decrease of menstruation, results in an in- 
crease. It is a curious fact that in poverty of the 
blood, just when it is so important that every drop 



134 GIRL AND WOMAN 

of it should be saved, there is a tendency to loss on 
every possible occasion, because its excessive thinness 
causes it to flow with unusual ease. Bleeding from 
the nose is quite common during anemia and the 
amount of the flow during menstruation may be in- 
creased. The next cause, which is present only dur- 
ing the years just after menstruation is established, 
is a slow and imperfect development of the blood ves- 
sels in the uterus. This, of course, passes away as 
soon as full development is reached. The third cause 
is a thickening and roughening of the mucous mem- 
brane lining the uterus. This condition may occur 
in any organ with a mucous lining, but in the uterus 
the regular recurrence of hemorrhage gives it more 
importance than it possesses elsewhere, for it tends to 
increase the amount of the flow. Fortunately it is 
easily relieved by a simple form of treatment. 

The treatment of menorrhagia is somewhat like 
that of dysmenorrhea, though it stands on a different 
basis. In both classes of cases rest is the sheet anchor, 
but in menorrhagia its object is not so much to relieve 
the nervous system, as to keep the patient in the recum- 
bent position, which usually tends to reduce the flow. 
Any girl suffering from excessive menstruation ought 
to stay in bed for the whole of the period, if possible, 
and at any rate for the first two days of it. In girls 
who are in the habit of taking a great deal of active 
exercise, menorrhagia is often benefited by a mod- 



MENSTRUATION 135 

ified rest for several days before the period is due, 
that is by refraining from long walks, or playing ten- 
nis, golf, or any form of active exercise, and by lying 
down for a few hours each day. 

In acute diseases, menstruation is usually partially 
or completely suppressed. But occasionally it is af- 
fected in the opposite manner, especially in the erup- 
tive fevers, such as scarlet fever, measles and the like. 
These disturbances are not commonly of consequence, 
unless the hemorrhage should be excessive enough to 
be alarming, which is very unusual; but the belief is 
now growing among physicians that chronic inflamma- 
tion of the uterus or ovaries, which gives much trou- 
ble in later life, sometimes has its starting point in the 
acute diseases occurring during childhood or early 
girlhood. For this reason it is most important to 
watch carefully for a symptom which might indicate 
the possibility of these organs being affected, the sign 
of it being either excessive menstruation or the ap- 
pearance of a discharge from the vagina. Whenever 
in the course of an acute disease, such symptoms ap- 
pear, the attention of the doctor should be called to 
it at once, in order that he may take precautionary 
measures. 

Before concluding this chapter it seems best to em- 
phasize the more important points concerning men- 
struation, even at the risk of repetition, for the func- 
tion is of vital importance in a woman's life, and 



136 GIRL AND WOMAN 

much of a girl's health and happiness depend upon a 
knowledge of them. 

We know that the function of menstruation is under 
the influence of the nervous system and that the dis- 
comfort and suffering which may accompany it even 
in the healthiest girls, are almost always due to dis- 
turbance of the nervous system, not to disease or dis- 
placement of the organs concerned. All investiga- 
tions into the question of women's diseases and the 
function of menstruation, made within the last few 
years, show this fact more and more convincingly. 
Such investigations also show that irregularities in oc- 
currence or amount are generally the result of failure 
of the general health. Deficiency of menstruation is, 
therefore, a saving process for which there is reason 
to be thankful. Increase in menstruation is more 
serious than either of the other conditions, not because 
it arises from graver causes, for in young girls it 
very rarely does, but because it exhausts the strength 
and injures the general health. 

If these particular points are once fully understood, 
common sense shows that the means of dealing with 
them lies in the hands of girls themselves and still 
more of their mothers. The measures at command 
are based upon four essentials : Rest, healthy condi- 
tions of life, patience, and time. If these measures 
are given a fair trial for a reasonable length of time, 
everything requisite to restoration of health is done. 



MENSTRUATION 137 

The majority of cases will recover without any neces- 
sity for active treatment, and this being the case it is 
a positive duty to exhaust their resources before tak- 
ing a young girl to a specialist's office. 



CHAPTER VI 



SEXUAL KNOWLEDGE 



Evils of present manner of treating sexual matters in educa- 
tion — False point of view as a cause of these evils — 
Benefit of frankness — Necessity for confidence between 
mother and daughter — Method of instruction through 
study of reproductive function in animals and plants — 
Question of such instruction in schools — Benefit of such 
instruction in the protection of working girls. 

One of the healthy signs of the times is a growing 
dissatisfaction with the manner in which the facts of 
reproduction and allied questions of sex are now 
treated in the education of the young. Up to this time 
the hisses faire doctrine, which left information on 
such subjects to chance, has been accepted without 
criticism ; but within recent years many thoughtful per- 
sons, who realize that the let-alone method in their 
own case left much to be desired, or, perhaps, it would 
be more correct to say, much to be regretted, are be- 
ginning to perceive the evils of such a policy and to 
ask themselves what is really the right line of conduct. 

The let-alone method arose partly from indolence 
and carelessness, together with that strange reserve 
which instinct seems to erect between parent and child 
138 



SEXUAL KNOWLEDGE 139 

on matters related to sex. But in the case of girls 
at any rate, it contained also a certain element of de- 
liberation, based upon the idea that if a girl was kept 
in complete ignorance of all matters related to sex, 
she remained innocent of evil, while, on the other 
hand, such a knowledge might make her less modest 
or else be an offense to her modesty. 

But innocence does not depend upon ignorance of 
sexual things, nor even upon ignorance of evil; it is 
a quality inherent in all healthy young minds, and if it 
is sullied or lost through a knowledge of sexual mat- 
ters it is because these facts are not presented as they 
should be, — with simple directness as part of nature's 
scheme of life. The same argument applies to the 
other objections cited as well, for there is certainly 
nothing in a knowledge of the natural laws relating 
to reproduction which can injure a girl's modesty or 
offend it. 

But even if it were desirable to keep a girl wholly 
ignorant of sexual matters up to adult life and mar- 
riage, it is impossible to do so, except in very rare 
cases. No girl can reach puberty without observing 
facts connected with reproduction, even if she is for- 
tunate enough to escape more direct information from 
her associates. The problem before us to-day is not 
whether a girl shall or shall not be ignorant of sexual 
things, but whether her knowledge of them shall come 
from a right or a wrong source. Yet so little is this 



140 GIRL AND WOMAN 

aspect of the case recognized that many mothers do 
not speak to their daughters upon such subjects, and 
others use every effort in their power to guard them 
rigorously from any knowledge of the most important 
function in their being. 

Unfortunately this negative attitude on the part of 
mothers is anything but negative in its results upon 
the daughter. Under the present conditions of life, 
at any rate in this country, a girl's mind cannot remain 
empty as regards sexual things. She reads the daily 
papers, she overhears the conversation of her elders, 
she associates with schoolmates more mature than her- 
self, and she takes a burning interest in the latest ad- 
ditions to her own family or those of her friends. It 
is but natural that if her mother never alludes to the 
subject or turns a deaf ear to inquiry, she should seek 
information from some other source, which may not 
be actually harmful, but is never what it ought to be. 

For — and this is a point not sufficiently appre- 
ciated — no suitable source of information is open to 
a girl if her mother fails her. No older girl or woman 
with right instincts or good principles will discuss mat- 
ters of sex with a little girl if her mother has not seen 
fit to do so. Even if the mother's course seems mis- 
taken to her relatives or intimate friends, they will 
rarely feel justified in acting contrary to it. Con- 
sequently the girl whose mother keeps silence, whether 
from indifference or intention, has no source of knowl- 



SEXUAL KNOWLEDGE 141 

edge better than her schoolmates and girl friends, 
whose information at best is " either bare-faced or 
shame- faced," and generally inaccurate. Or, worse 
still-, she falls into the hands of servants wfrose point 
of view can hardly fail to be coarse and may be really 
vicious. As a recent writer on the subject remarks: 
" The so-called delicacy of discussion is a veritable 
Minotaur that exacts a yearly tribute in the shape of 
boys and maidens." 

Another bad result of mystery and repression is 
that girls come to regard it as the natural attitude of 
mothers on such matters, and to feel themselves justi- 
fied in evading it, because everyone else does so. Can 
anything be more pitiful, or more cruel to both par- 
ties ? A girl's mind at this period is at its most plastic 
and receptive stage and just at this point, when pure 
and noble ideas upon sexual things are most easily 
inspired, she is cut off from the source through which 
all impressions of this kind would naturally come, 
and is fortunate if she escape having her innocent 
mind filled with coarse associations which can never, 
perhaps, be wholly eradicated. 

But many a conscientious mother adheres to this re- 
pression policy because she honestly believes that the 
subject of reproduction and everything related to it 
should be avoided by a modest woman, except under 
the most stringent necessity. Therefore, she is only 
doing her duty, as she conceives it, by seeking to give 



142 GIRL AND WOMAN 

her daughter the same impression through her own 
avoidance of the topic. And this attitude, unfortu- 
nately, is one which, to a large extent, has the sanction 
of public opinion. 

AH this trouble arises from the fact that the whole 
subject stands at present in a false light. There is no 
indelicacy in the facts of reproduction themselves nor 
in the natural laws associated with them ; it is we who 
have created an artificial atmosphere of indelicacy by 
surrounding such subjects with mystery and putting a 
taboo upon all allusion to them. Not, of course, that 
matters of sex are suitable for general conversation or 
comment. On the contrary, their constant presence 
in newspapers, advertisements, cheap literature, and 
other public places is one of the odious defects 
of the age. The trouble is that we confound secrecy 
and reserve, which are wholly different things. There 
can hardly be too much reserve upon all matters re- 
lating to the question of sex, for reserve implies a 
dignified reticence that discusses certain subjects only 
upon fitting occasions and then, when frankness is 
called for, speaks with perfect openness. The quality 
of reserve as thus defined, outlines the attitude suita- 
ble to all the intimate relations of life, and especially 
to those of sex, which are associated with the finest 
instincts of our nature and the nearest of all human 
relationships. To every healthy-minded girl whose 
impulses are pure and good this attitude will come 



SEXUAL KNOWLEDGE 143 

instinctively, if her thoughts are not soiled and per- 
verted by other and lower views, presented to her 
before she fully understands what the subject means. 

A certain proportion of parents who realize that 
they have a duty to their children as regards their 
knowledge of sexual matters, adopt a system of treat- 
ing the subject which is certainly more to be respected 
than the laisses fake method, though it is not by any 
means all that it should be. This plan, which has the 
support and sanction of some careful mothers, is to 
let a girl grow up in ignorance of all matters con- 
nected with the function of reproduction (so far as 
her mother is concerned) until she reaches puberty, 
and then, about that time, to explain the subject to 
her more or less fully according to the mother's judg- 
ment. 

The success of this scheme rests upon the mother's 
assumption that no hint of the subject will reach her 
daughter's ears before the time when she intends it 
to do so, and this state of things, as we have seen, 
is almost an impossibility. A mother often makes the 
mistake of thinking that because a daughter as she 
approaches womanhood says nothing to her regard- 
ing matters of sex, she knows nothing of them, which 
is a fatal error. This is the age when girls begin 
to be reticent about everything, as we saw in a previ- 
ous chapter, and that reticence is apt to be fostered as 
regards sex matters, because if the mother has fixed 



144 GIRL AND WOMAN 

a definite time in which to speak herself she will al- 
most always repress any questions addressed to her 
before that time arrives. Any mother who believes 
her daughter's silence to be a sign of ignorance and 
is surprised when she approaches the subject to find 
the contrary, will be able to recall, if she tries, ques- 
tions evaded by her some years earlier. 

A child who has been rebuffed on such matters will 
no longer let her mother see what is passing in her 
mind in regard to it, not so much from deliberate 
concealment, as because she has learned that her 
mother does not wish to be approached in regard to it. 

The plan of taking up sex-instruction at a definite 
time answers in some cases. I know of one instance 
where it was a signal success, but in this case the cir- 
cumstances were such that the daughters could be 
most carefully guarded, and the mother was a woman 
with remarkable powers of insight and influence. 
Such cases as this are in a very small minority. In 
most instances, a girl, so far as her early years are 
concerned, is exposed to all the evils of the let-alone 
system, and when childhood is over and the mother 
expects to guide her daughter's mind along lines which 
she has planned, she finds it impossible to do so, by 
reason of impressions already received. This system 
will always be a failure except in the rarest cases, be- 
cause entire confidence between mother and child can 
hardly ever exist under it, and it is in this confidence 



SEXUAL KNOWLEDGE 145 

that the solution of the sex-problem from an educa- 
tional point of view must lie. Not confidence estab- 
lished at a special time for a special purpose, but a 
confidence existing from babyhood and bringing the 
child into the same relations of sympathy and open- 
ness in matters of sex that should exist between her 
and her mother in all respects. A mother cannot step 
into this relation at a time fixed by herself, no matter 
how judicious her selection of the time may be. More 
than this she must accept the fact that the time for 
explanation is a matter of opportunity, not of choice, 
and be ready to set aside all pet theories and nicely 
adjusted plans, even to sacrifice what may seem to her 
a really important issue to keep the one thing needful 
— confidence. 

The questions asked by very little children, such as 
"Who made me?" or "Where did the baby come 
from? " are probably best met by some evasion, such 
as the fable of the stork. In early childhood there 
is no danger of checking confidence by such an an- 
swer, for it is no more possible to answer questions 
of this kind than hosts of others on all possible sub- 
jects propounded at this time, and the child does not 
feel herself any more rebuffed than she does in many 
other cases. When she grows older and approaches 
the problem with more developed intelligence, the stork 
will go into the same category as Santa Claus and 
other childish delusions. It is at about six or seven, 



146 GIRL AND WOMAN 

when infancy ends and childhood begins, that the dif- 
ficulty appears, partly because the intelligence is keener 
and partly because the child begins to go to school. 
At this time she will perceive that her questions on 
matters related to reproduction and kindred subjects 
are put aside, while her questions on all other subjects 
are met with more or less effort at response, and 
want of confidence begins to creep in. From this time 
on, evasions are of all things to be avoided and if the 
, old ones, such as the stork, are recalled and presented 
for explanation, it is best to admit frankly that they 
were evasions, made use of because a baby could not 
understand the real answer. No child of six or seven 
ever resents or is repressed by such an admission, for 
nothing gives such a delightful sense of superiority as 
the comparison with a younger self. The danger with 
evasions at the later stage is that the questions for 
which they are employed will certainly crop up again, 
and then the child will be shrewd enough to guess that 
they were employed, not because she could not under- 
stand, as in the case of the early ones, but because it 
was not intended that she should, and if she draws the 
further conclusion that she will not be any more suc- 
cessful next time she will probably seek information 
elsewhere. 

At this age a child's inquiries ought to be met as 
fully as her intelligence will permit. It may be ob- 
jected that the intelligence of the period does not allow 



SEXUAL KNOWLEDGE 147 

explanation of any great fullness. But the really 
important point is not so much to impart information 
as to make the child feel that she is treated with as 
much frankness as her age admits, and that when she 
is older and wiser her further inquiries will meet 
with the same treatment. The hardest part of this 
plan is that the mother must be prepared to find, at 
any moment, that the matter has, on some point, been 
taken out of her hands, because the child has heard 
or seen something which obliges her to go farther in 
information than is desirable for the child's age. The 
temptation to evade under these circumstances is very 
great, but it is a fatal error to yield, for the girl's 
essential belief in her mother's frankness and willing- 
ness to explain will certainly be shaken when she finds 
out the subterfuge, and this is a false step which can 
never be regained. In such a case as this the mother 
can, at any rate, take comfort in the conviction that 
she controls the situation by meeting it openly ; whereas 
if she finds some other way out, it will get the better 
'of her. 

This particular point is so important that I should 
like to illustrate it by means of a little incident told 
me by a friend. 

My friend's little girl came to her when she was 
about ten years old in great perturbation because one 
of her companions, a girl somewhat older than herself, 
had shattered her belief in the mission of the stork, 



148 GIRL AND WOMAN 

in which up to that moment she had firmly believed. 
Her mother hesitated for a moment, and in that mo- 
ment, with the child's eyes fixed upon her face, she 
took thought and made her decision. It had been her 
intention to speak upon the subject a few years later, 
and she regretted extremely that her hand should be 
forced. There was no difficulty in evading the sub- 
ject at the moment for the child trusted her absolutely, 
and would have accepted any one of the customary 
subterfuges without suspicion. But with this thought 
came the reflection that the matter might be revived 
in the child's mind at any moment by suggestion from 
some other quarter, and then the recollection of her 
own avoidance of it would check the confidence she 
aimed to establish. So, believing that she chose the 
better part, she gave an explanation sufficient to meet 
the situation for the time being, feeling sure that 
when further questions suggested themselves or were 
suggested, they would be brought to her as readily 
as this one had been. The child's comment showed 
how true her mother's instinct had been, for when the 
latter ended by saying that she had intended to explain 
the subject to her when she was a little older, she said : 
" I don't think that girl ought to have told me. You 
are the person who ought to tell me; you are my 
mother." 

I have sometimes heard expressions of surprise, that 
this particular woman should possess the confidence 



SEXUAL KNOWLEDGE 149 

of her daughters in a remarkable degree, while other 
mothers, who gave all questions of education far more 
consideration, were less successful in this respect, and 
whenever this happens I recall this little incident. 

One objection often urged by mothers against the 
policy of entire frankness is the difficulty of handling 
such subjects, since certain aspects of the sex question 
are unsuitable to a child's mind, even with the most 
cautious and delicate treatment. With some persons 
the personal element seems to be a great obstacle. 
But this difficulty arises from the fact that the most 
people look upon all questions of sex from the human 
point of view alone, or at any rate from the point of 
view of the higher animals. The solution of it lies 
in taking up the subject from the other end of the 
scale of life and opening the child's mind to the fact 
of reproduction in all animal life and vegetable life, 
accustoming her in this way to look upon it as a nat- 
ural law, present all through the universe. A child 
of nine or ten can understand the process of cell divi- 
sion, as it takes place in low forms of life, and see, 
how it results in a new individual. She can also ap- 
preciate the fact that reproduction in human beings is 
a further stage of the same process, too complicated 
for her to understand as yet, just as she appreciates 
that there are degrees of knowledge in everything. 
Such a plan brings the subject before her in a pure 
and natural light; it shows her that it is a law of 



150 GIRL AND WOMAN 

nature with no more mystery about it than other nat- 
ural laws; and it prepares her mind for a right esti- 
mation of its relations to life as a whole, when she 
is old enough to meet them. 

But the study of life in all its forms has only 
been recognized within the last half century and the 
adaptation to youthful minds is even more recent, so 
that its usefulness as a means of education in sexual 
things is not yet generally recognized. Every year 
however, makes it more plain that instruction along 
these lines is the solution of the sex problem from an 
educational point of view, and the greatest service 
which can be rendered to this cause at present is to 
assist in bringing it into general acceptance. 

If it is objected that not many parents have the 
training necessary to instruction of the kind requisite, 
the answer is that the requirements for it are really 
very simple. A special education in botany and zool- 
ogy is most useful when it is at command, but it is 
not at all essential. Any mother who has gone 
through the public schools, whether their course in- 
cluded any training in natural history or not, can 
easily acquire a sufficient knowledge for her purpose 
from elementary books on these matters. A scheme 
of such instruction is given in the last chapter, but 
there are variations upon it which might be employed 
with advantage in special circumstances. A micro- 
scope and a knowledge of its use, or even a magnify- 



SEXUAL KNOWLEDGE 151 

ing glass, is a great help and interest, but not an es- 
sential. No knowledge of drawing in an artistic 
sense is necessary, for anyone can learn what is need- 
ful for this special purpose. Under any circumstances 
there are the illustrations in books. 

But in many cases it is possible to arrange for a 
course in elementary biology from a regular teacher, 
in which the reproductive functions are considered in 
connection with all the others, for several children to- 
gether, and if the mothers are present at the same time, 
so as to know exactly what facts are presented to 
their children, they will be able to make use of what 
has been learned in their own talks with their children 
on sex matters. 

It has been suggested that graded courses of instruc- 
tion in biology, with this particular point especially in 
view, shall be made a part of the work in the public 
schools, the lessons concluding by a series of talks to 
the older pupils on the function of reproduction and 
kindred subjects from the human side, and the ques- 
tions of health associated with it. The advantage of 
such a plan is that the child can have instruction from 
a more highly trained source than is otherwise possi- 
ble in most cases. She can also enjoy the use of ap- 
paratus and appliances which few homes can command 
and she can observe many more forms of life. More- 
over, it provides for children, especially those of for- 
eign parentage, whose mothers have not enough educa- 



152 GIRL AND WOMAN 

tion to attempt any instruction of this kind. The plan 
has been tried in a few places and the results, so far 
as they go, are most encouraging. 

The only objection to the scheme is that instruction 
in matters of sex is undoubtedly the duty of the par- 
ents, and if the responsibility of it is accepted by the 
school the parents will come to regard it as no busi- 
ness of theirs, just as they are too apt to do with other 
matters of education, and thus be separated from the 
children in a matter, where, I repeat, confidence is 
above all things essential. If the system of school in- 
struction will really produce such a result as this, it 
had better be given up, for no benefit to be gained 
from it will counterbalance such an evil But why 
should the evil arise? There is no reason whatever 
why it should do so. In any case such a measure is 
only a temporary resource, for if the present gen- 
eration of pupils in the public schools are well 
grounded in the necessary knowledge, they will have 
it in their power to teach their children themselves, 
and in the next generation, if it is desirable, the course 
can be dropped from the curriculum. But there 
is no reason why, if technical instruction is introduced 
into the public schools and the parents will take pains 
to keep in touch with it and make use of the facts 
thus acquired in their closer and more personal teach- 
ing, all things should not work together for good. It 
is all-important that this aspect of the question should 



SEXUAL KNOWLEDGE 153 

be clearly understood in the beginning, and when the 
system is introduced into the schools of any particular 
place every effort ought to be made to initiate the 
parents into its purpose and secure their sympathy and 
support. 

Yet when all is said and done, school instruction, no 
matter how good, can never take the place of a moth- 
er's influence in such matters. The closer, more inti- 
mate, personal side of the subject can only be sup- 
plied in its best sense by a mother. No teacher, no 
matter how well informed or sympathetic she may 
be, can fill a mother's place, and any outside influence, 
if it is to do good, must work with her; otherwise it 
makes for evil. That a mother's capacity to help 
her daughter does not depend upon intelligence nor ed- 
ucation, is shown by the fact that workers among the 
poor in New York, say that the girls among the very 
poorest class upon the East Side are better protected 
against evil when working for themselves by their 
mother's teaching than those of the class above them, 
where there is more education. 

This matter of the protection of working girls 
touches another aspect of the sex question which is 
of vital importance. It may seem a paradox to speak 
on one page of the harm done by the let-alone system 
giving a precocious knowledge of sexual things and on 
another of the evil arising from ignorance resulting 
from the same method ; but inconsistent as the two 



154 GIRL AND WOMAN 

statements may seem on the surface, they are really 
perfectly in accord. A knowledge of sexual matters 
picked up at haphazard, whether it comes from com- 
panions, from books, from newspapers, or from ob- 
servation in real life, contains every evil without pos- 
sessing the one compensating quality of truthfulness. 
The facts are distorted, the point of view from which 
they are presented is false, and worst of all, the nat- 
ural laws which govern them, and the questions of 
health associated with them, are never explained, still 
less the consequences of breaking these laws. 

Among well-to-do women whose daughters are pro- 
tected from evil by the mere conditions of their lives, 
this particular fault of the let-alone system is of little 
consequence compared to others of which we have 
spoken. But with working girls, who must begin to 
support and therefore to protect themselves at an 
early age, the harm arising from ignorance of the 
natural laws associated with sexual things is piteous. 
There is but one opinion among those who have ex- 
perience with working girls as to the cause of such a 
girl's first downward step. They all agree with one 
accord that in the majority of cases it is ignorance. 
Not ignorance of sexual matters, for they may be ac- 
quainted with many coarse and ugly things in regard 
to the subject. But ignorance of the natural laws 
governing them, and the consequences attendant upon 
breaking them. 



SEXUAL KNOWLEDGE 155 

It is not perhaps sufficiently recognized how greatly 
the conditions of life for girls in the working classes 
are changed from what they were a generation or two 
ago. Fifty or sixty years since a girl married early, 
and in most cases left her father's home for one of 
her own as soon as she could fairly be called grown 
up. If, however, she did not marry until later, and 
was obliged to work for herself, she went into do- 
mestic service in a respectable place where she was 
protected. Nowadays a girl does not marry for years 
after she is old enough to do something for herself; 
domestic service has been rejected in favor of any 
other form of employment; and, most efficient of all 
causes of change, the spirit of independence is abroad, 
and a girl demands what she calls her " liberty." In 
consequence of these changes the cities are crowded 
each year with girls from country neighborhoods and 
villages who want work in factories, or to be telegraph, 
telephone, or shop girls, or to follow any other of the 
many occupations now open to women. 

That interesting little book, " The Long Day," 
shows what are the dangers to which such a girl is 
exposed, particularly if she is without any special 
training, as thousands of them are, and the author's 
experience in the steam laundry in particular, makes 
plain the nature of the temptations of one special kind, 
to which the most respectable girl is exposed. But all 
those who have experience among working girls agree 



t56 GIRL AND WOMAN 

that this sort of temptation would be unsuccessful in 
the majority of cases, if it were not for ignorance, 
which seems in such cases to be at the special service 
of the devil. A woman physician who has a large 
practice among working girls has expressed herself 
on this subject in a recent paper thus : "Ignorance is 
perhaps the most serious of the many factors which 
work together to bring many working girls to ruin. 
The inducements in the way of dress, jewelry, and 
amusement, which are used to overcome scruples nat- 
ural to every woman, would have far less weight if the 
consequences of indulgence were clearly understood." 
Judge Lindsay, of the Juvenile Court in Denver, — 
whose experience among juvenile delinquents of every 
class is well known, — expresses himself even more 
strongly as follows : " I say emphatically that nine- 
tenths of our girls who go wrong do so because of 
ignorance, due to the carelessness of parents." 

But this condition of things, grievous as it is in one 
way, is hopeful in another. It speaks well for the in- 
trinsic right principle of the working girl that ig- 
norance should be the strongest factor in her wrong- 
doing, and it is reassuring to know that the most im- 
portant means for her protection are at our command. 
It also presents another and powerful argument against 
leaving the knowledge of sexual things in a girl's edu- 
cation to chance. Those who are striving to introduce 
sex instruction into the schools consider the protec- 



SEXUAL KNOWLEDGE 157 

tion of the working girl one of the strongest argu- 
ments for their cause. And it is especially on account 
of the working girl that they urge concluding the 
course of instruction in general biology with lessons 
on the anatomy and physiology of reproduction in hu- 
man beings, and following these with a series of talks 
on questions of health associated with them. The dif- 
ficulty of finding the right person to carry on such 
a course of instruction is certainly great, but it is not 
insuperable, and there can be no doubt of the good 
to be accomplished by it. 

The sex problem, as it stands at this moment in 
education is one of the vital questions of the day. Its 
solution undoubtedly lies in straightforward treat- 
ment, and especially in showing that the function of 
reproduction is nothing more or less than a natural 
law. No one denies that there are peculiar difficulties 
in dealing with the subject not present in the case of 
other natural laws, but the advancement of scientific 
knowledge and its introduction into all stages of edu- 
cation offer a means of meeting this difficulty which 
has hitherto been lacking and make our way plain to 
us. There can be no doubt that the method of teach- 
ing by gradual advance through different forms of life 
is destined to become more and more popular as time 
goes on, and there is every reason to hope that with 
its extension the evils arising from the old fashioned 
system will gradually disappear. 



CHAPTER VII 

BODILY FUNCTIONS EXERCISE SLEEP 

I. Digestion : Action of saliva — Irregularity of meals — 
Exertion after meals — Eating between meals — Effect of 
mind on digestion — Character and preparation of food 

— Use of water — Use of tea and coffee. 

ill. Respiration: Nose breathing — Disposition of atmos- 
pheric dust — Simple means of ventilation — Benefit from 
sitting out of doors. 

III. Exercise: Changes in physical life of girls — Correct 
carriage — Manner of walking — Cross-country walking 

— Riding and driving — Skating — Rowing — Swimming 

— Golf — Tennis — Basket-ball and hockey — Athletics 
in general. 

IV. Sleep. 

During childhood our daily life is under other peo- 
ple's control. We live, and move, and have our be- 
ing in accordance with a scheme of conduct in the 
choice of which we ourselves have little or nothing to 
say. But with girlhood individual responsibility be- 
gins. This is the time of life when the personal 
habits of a lifetime are formed and the girl must learn 
to be guided by her own judgment and her own sense 
of fitness and necessity. If she has been fortunate in 
her training, she has only to make it her own personal 
158 



BODILY FUNCTIONS 159 

possession; if, on the contrary, she has still much to 
learn as regards the conduct of daily life, she will do 
wisely to acquire the knowledge while body and mind 
are plastic and good habits are easily formed. To 
spend a little time in the consideration of physical well- 
being, therefore, can hardly be amiss. 

I. DIGESTION 

The first stage of digestion takes place in the mouth, 
and we can do more to help or hinder, even at this 
early stage, than we are apt to imagine. Food taken 
into the mouth is broken into pieces by the teeth and 
then moved to and fro in the mouth by means of the 
tongue and the muscles of the jaws and cheeks. Dur- 
ing this time it is being mixed with saliva, and as 
the saliva serves more than one use, it is important 
to chew the food slowly and deliberately, so as to 
give it time to act. 

It has long been known that saliva contains a diges- 
tive ferment, called pyalin, which digests starchy 
foods ; but it used to be supposed that the food did not 
remain in the mouth long enough for this ferment 
to have a chance to act. Proof has recently been 
given, however, that if food is chewed slowly and 
thoroughly, so that it remains in the mouth as long as 
possible, the salivary ferment is able to accomplish a 
certain amount of digestion. Moreover, if the saliva 
is plentifully mixed with the food some of it is car- 



160 GIRL AND WOMAN 

ried down along with the food mass into the stomach 
and its digestive action will go on there for some 
little time longer. Since these facts became known, 
the method of treating food in the mouth has been 
especially studied and developed by an Englishman, 
Mr. Horace Fletcher, who calls it " the science of feed- 
ing in a natural manner." and his views have become 
widely known as " Fletcherism." 

The essential point in Mr. Fletcher's method is that 
while the food is being slowly and thoroughly chewed, 
the attention must be fixed upon tasting and enjoying 
it, not, as it usually is, upon swallowing as soon as 
possible. Of course, when the plan is tried for the 
first time the attention is almost wholly occupied by 
the effort not to come to the point of swallowing too 
soon, but as the process grows familiar, swallowing 
becomes more and more unnoticed until the food at 
last, so to speak, swallows itself. Not only solid food 
is subjected to the chewing process, but semi-solid and 
soft foods also must be chewed with deliberation; in 
fact, every article of diet, even milk, must undergo the 
movements of mastication. Liquids, except water, 
should be sipped in order that their taste may be per- 
ceived and enjoyed. 

If it is objected that such a method of eating re- 
quires and consumes a great deal of time, the answer 
is that more nourishment is obtained from five minutes 
spent in eating according to its requirements than 



BODILY FUNCTIONS 161 

from large amounts of food consumed in the usual 
rapid manner. It takes time, of course, to learn to eat 
after this fashion, but when the method is once ac- 
quired the whole amount of time devoted to taking 
food each day need not exceed an hour at the utmost. 

It has also been objected that such a system must 
lead, in the long run, to a great decrease in the total 
consumption of food and consequently to insufficient 
nourishment of the body. But the experiment of liv- 
ing in accordance with the system has been tried suc- 
cessfully by nine young men, athletic students at Yale, 
who found no difficulty whatever in meeting the re- 
quirements of their work while doing so. Like all 
other systems Fletcherism has been misrepresented by 
opponents and overdone by supporters. The descrip- 
tion just given is taken from Mr. Fletcher's own state- 
ment concerning it. It is impossible to say at present 
how far it will ever come into general use, but one 
thing is certainly established by it, namely, that we 
can assist digestion by taking time and pains to give 
our food slow and careful mastication. 

The passage of food from the mouth to the stomach 
is only momentary. When the food-mass enters the 
stomach it finds the gastric juice all ready to act upon 
it, because the taste of the food while it is still in the 
mouth acts as a stimulus to the digestive glands in 
the stomach. This fact was recently proved by a 
Russian scientist, Pawlov, and it gives an additional 



162 GIRL AND WOMAN 

reason for allowing plenty of time and opportunity 
for the action of the saliva, since our sense of taste 
depends largely upon the power possessed by the 
saliva of dissolving substances such as salt, sweets, 
and acids. Pawlov has also shown that the gastric 
glands secrete most freely when the taste of food is 
agreeable. The enjoyment of food, therefore, is 
actually a help to the digestion and we are justified 
within reasonable limits in not eating what we dis- 
like. The old fashioned principle of education which 
obliged children to eat what was set before them, 
whether they liked it or not, was certainly bad for their 
digestions, however good it may have been for their 
characters. 

One of the most fruitful sources of indigestion is 
irregularity of meals. This is a fact which young 
people ought to realize early in life, in order to ac- 
quire the habit of coming to their meals promptly at 
the appointed hour. Punctuality is a duty not only 
to our own digestions but to those of other people 
which must suffer if we keep them waiting. We are 
all creatures of habit and at the hour when we are 
accustomed to eat we feel the sensation known as ap- 
petite which signifies that the digestion is ready for 
work. If we keep it waiting, the desire to eat at first 
becomes more and more acute, and we grow uncom- 
fortable and irritable because it is not gratified ; a lit- 
tle later the wish to eat passes away and we begin to 



BODILY FUNCTIONS 163 

feel a disinclination for food that leads eventually to 
faintness and, possibly, to nausea, so that the food 
is not well digested when at last it is eaten. 

No vigorous exercise should be taken immediately 
after eating a full meal. It is a well-known fact in 
physiology that whenever a particular organ or tissue 
of the body is called upon to exercise its special func- 
tion, the activity of the blood flow through it is in- 
creased in order to provide nourishment for the in- 
creased demand. After a full meal the circulation 
ought to be most active in the digestive tract ; in other 
words, the attention of the circulation should be fo- 
cussed upon the digestion. But if a rapid walk is 
taken directly after eating, the activity of the blood 
current will be diverted to the voluntary muscles used 
in locomotion, or, if we sit down at once to steady 
mental labor the blood flow is claimed by the demands 
of the brain. In either case the digestive organs will 
not have a supply sufficient for their work. 

Nature gives us warning in this matter by the feel- 
ing of sluggishness and inertia which makes exertion 
directly after eating an effort, and if we disregard the 
warning we shall certainly suffer for it in the end. 
Many causes of chronic dyspepsia are caused by rush- 
ing into active occupations, whether bodily or mental 
just as soon as a full meal is disposed of. Slow mas- 
tication of food reduces the evil to some extent, be- 
cause less work is thrown upon the stomach, but noth- 



1 64 GIRL AND WOMAN 

ing takes the place of half an hour's rest after the 
principal meal of the day. 

One bad habit, which is most harmful to the diges- 
tion, is especially common amongst young girls, and 
that is eating between meals. It is easy to understand 
that if food is continually being taken into the stom- 
ach the digestion never has the complete rest which is 
necessary, at intervals, for all bodily functions. 
Moreover, the constant eating of small quantities of 
food destroys all appetite for regular meals and leads 
in the long run to insufficient nourishment, since the 
food taken at odd times almost always consists of 
cake, candy, and other dainties, not actually harmful in 
themselves, but not capable of taking the place of the 
fundamental articles of diet. 

The condition of the nervous system has a marked 
effect upon the digestion. Eye-strain is closely asso- 
ciated with indigestion and many a mysterious case 
of dyspepsia disappears after the eyes are fitted with 
proper glasses. Mental influences also are able to help 
or hinder the digestive processes to a remarkable ex- 
tent. Worry, anger, grief, anxiety and disagreeable 
psychical impression of any kind tend to check diges- 
tion, while on the other hand, nothing assists it more 
than tranquillity of mind. The mental atmosphere at 
meal times ought to be as bright and cheerful as pos- 
sible, and if there is anything disagreeable which must 
be said, meals are not the time for it. Young people 



BODILY FUNCTIONS 165 

sometimes make meal times most unpleasant by teas- 
ing one another, until the one who gets the worst of 
it is' abjectly unhappy or has an explosion of temper. 
Teasing in itself is not such a bad thing; it supplies a 
useful family training in good temper, but it should 
never be allowed to crop up at meal times. Indeed it 
ought to be a fixed rule in families that all disagreeable 
topics be avoided while eating. Solomon showed his 
wisdom on this, as on many other matters, when he 
said that a dinner of herbs and quietness withal is bet- 
ter than a stalled ox and contention therewith. 

Food in itself, both as regards nature and prepara- 
tion, has an important relation to digestion. Youth 
requires a liberal supply of nourishing food to meet 
the demands of growth and development, especially of 
the so-called proteid foods, represented by meat, eggs, 
and milk, because this class of food supplies the nitro- 
gen required by the muscles in abundance. Other 
kinds of food, however, also are needed, in fact, the 
more varied the diet the better, provided the food is 
simple, of good quality, and properly cooked. Fruit 
should be liberally provided. It is not, as some per- 
sons seem to think, a luxury, acceptable only for its 
agreeable qualities; it is a necessary article of diet. 
Certain organic salts, much needed in the body, are 
largely supplied by means of it and it is of the utmost 
service in keeping the bowels open. Sweet things in 
moderation and of good quality are good for almost 



166 GIRL AND WOMAN 

all girls. Sugar in itself is healthful and nutritious, 
and a well-made cake or pudding contains considerable 
nourishment in the milk and eggs put into it. The 
evil of sweet things — and they are often very evil — 
arises from injurious articles introduced into them to 
give stimulating flavors or a bright color, or else from 
the use of ingredients of inferior quality, used to save 
expense. Confectioners' sweets are not desirable as a 
part of the diet to any great extent, because, though re- 
liable firms can be trusted not to use anything actually 
harmful, even the best of them do not employ material 
of the same quality as what is furnished at home. 
Cheap confectionery, especially candy, is apt to con- 
tain harmful ingredients, such as kerosene oil and ani- 
line dyes. 

A witty person once said that digestion begins in 
the kitchen and certainly many cases of dyspepsia 
originate there. The best digestion in the world can- 
not stand badly-cooked food for any length of time. 
No article of diet, no matter how simple, is wholesome 
if it is improperly prepared and its nourishing quali- 
ties are much lessened by bad cooking. In fact good 
cookery is as necessary to health as good food. It is 
just now a vexed question whether lessons in cooking 
and other branches of household science should form 
part of the school education of girls, and there is much 
to be said in favor of such a course. A discussion of 
even the elementary principles of cooking is out of 



BODILY FUNCTIONS 167 

the question here; it is only possible to point out in 
passing the responsibility which rests upon parents and 
guardians to see that girls are properly provided with 
well-cooked meals. The only thing which a girl can 
do for herself in the matter is to avoid badly-cooked 
food, even if she has to sacrifice her preferences in 
order to do so. Greasy food is always badly cooked, 
so is half-baked bread or bread imperfectly raised; 
while overdone meat, if it is not actually indigestible, 
is deprived of much of its nourishment. 

Water is a most important article of diet; in fact, 
its value as a factor in the preservation of health is 
much greater than is commonly supposed. If the 
body is deprived of water altogether it suffers more 
than it does when deprived of food. This fact has 
been frequently observed in cases of shipwreck, when 
the survivors are found to be more emaciated and to< 
have endured greater suffering if they were without 
water than without food. Arctic explorers also are 
able to travel incredible distances with almost no food, 
because they can always get water (of a kind) by 
melting ice or snow. This necessity for water arises 
from the fact that the tissues of the body are largely 
composed of it ; it forms, in fact, about two-fifths of 
the body weight, and as it is constantly being excreted 
by the kidneys and the skin, the loss must be made up 
at frequent intervals. To a certain extent the amount 
required to supply the loss is furnished by the water 



1 68 GIRL AND WOMAN 

contained in the food, for all food contains some 
water. But an additional amount of not less than two 
and a half to three pints must be taken in as drinking 
water every twenty- four hours. Many people are 
careless about this matter ; women especially are apt to 
be so. They almost always drink too little water and 
in the long run the health suffers from this neglect. It 
is a good plan for girls to form a habit of drinking a 
daily allowance of water. 

In regard to the question of what is the best time to 
take drinking water, there is no doubt that some of it 
should be taken at meals. There seems to be a com- 
mon impression that water drunk at meals is bad for 
the digestion, but it is hard to understand on what 
such an idea is founded. Certainly there is no truth 
in it; on the contrary, in moderate amounts water at 
meals is really of assistance to digestion, for a certain 
amount of fluid is necessary to mix with the food and 
further movement of the stomach, upon which diges- 
tion largely depends. The feeling of discomfort 
which some persons complain of when they drink 
water with their meals is probably due to their eating 
large quantities of food without taking time to chew it 
properly, and then washing it down with copious 
draughts of water, a procedure which naturally causes 
sensations of distension. A certain proportion of the 
daily allowance of water should be taken when the 
stomach is empty, because, taken in this manner, it 



BODILY FUNCTIONS 169 

flushes out the blood vessels, particularly the circula- 
tion in the kidneys. Three pints of water is about 
equal to six drinking glasses full; one glassful may be 
taken with each of the three meals, and the remainder 
on rising in the morning, on going to bed at night, and 
in the middle of either the morning or afternoon. No 
one need be afraid of taking more than this amount, 
but to take less is distinctly a danger to health. 

The subject of food ought not to be abandoned 
without a word on the use of stimulants. Young girls 
are not exposed to the dangers of alcoholic stimulation 
to the same extent or in the same manner as young 
men. The risks which girls encounter are generally 
present in unsuspected places, such as patent medicines 
containing alcohol or opium. This particular aspect 
of the question on which there is so much to be said is 
discussed elsewhere (see Chapter XIII) ; what should 
be emphasized here is the risk lying in the use of the 
everyday stimulants, tea and coffee. A great deal of 
harm would be avoided if it were never forgotten that 
these beverages are stimulants and not food; there is 
no nourishment in either of them, except what may 
be contained in the milk and sugar added to them. It 
would not be fair to deny that their powers of stimula- 
tion have a definite field of usefulness in their proper 
place. When middle life is reached and the vital pow- 
ers have passed the highest point, a cup of tea or cof- 
fee on rising in the morning, before beginning the 



170 GIRL AND WOMAN 

day's labors, is often of great service by stimulating 
certain nerve cells and causing a consequent rise of 
blood-pressure throughout the body. But in youth, 
when the vital processes are, or ought to be strong and 
vigorous, such stimulation is not only not necessary, it 
is actually harmful. Any young girl who feels the 
need of stimulation in order to exert herself is not in 
good health, and what she really requires is rest, care, 
and medical advice. If tea and coffee are taken 
habitually in girlhood, by the time middle life is 
reached and the use of them would be really beneficial 
the ordinary quantity has no longer any effect, and 
stimulation can only be obtained from such large 
amounts as to injure digestion, to say nothing of the 
nervous system. 

Tea and coffee are particularly harmful when they 
are taken in the place of food. It is distressingly 
easy to get into the habit of thus misusing them, es- 
pecially in the case of girls who are supporting them- 
selves away from home and prepare one or more of 
their own meals. The danger to health from even the 
moderate use of these beverages in youth is so great 
that there is really only one safe course of action in 
regard to them. This is to avoid them altogether dur- 
ing girlhood, except on special occasions, when their 
stimulating powers are needed, and after womanhood 
is reached to use them cautiously, so that all the benefit 
which scientific investigation teaches us is to be ob- 



BODILY FUNCTIONS 171 

tained from them in middle life may be at command 
when it is most needed. 

II. RESPIRATION 

Respiration is less under one's control than diges- 
tion, nevertheless, there are certain points, mostly of 
an indirect nature, in which we can do a great deal to 
preserve good health by attention to it. 

One of these important points is nose-breathing. 
Atmospheric air is both too cold and too dry to be 
taken into the lungs directly; it must first be warmed 
and moistened by contact with the mucous membrane 
over which it passes on its way. Air taken in by the 
mouth receives a certain amount of the necessary 
warmth and moisture from the mucous membrane in 
the mouth and pharynx, but not nearly so much as it 
does when it enters through the nose, because the 
interior of the nose is especially adapted for the pur- 
pose. Inside it are various small bones having an ir- 
regular shape, something like a scroll, and the mucous 
membrane covering these bones follows all the irregu- 
larities of their surface. By this means the extent of 
mucous surface over which the air must pass before 
reaching the lungs is greatly increased and there is 
plenty of time and opportunity for it to acquire 
warmth and moisture. 

Another reason for the atmospheric air entering the 
lungs by way of the nose instead of the mouth is that 



172 GIRL AND WOMAN 

when it does so the dust and impurities contained in 
even the purest air are, to a large extent, prevented 
from reaching the lungs. The surface of the mucous 
membrane in the inside of the nose is covered with 
delicate waving processes, known as cilia, so small as 
to be visible only through the microscope ; while at the 
outer margin of each nostril are tiny hairs called vi- 
brissa?. The coarser dust in the atmospheric air is 
caught by these vibrissas and prevented from entering 
the nose at all, while the finer dust which manages to 
sift through, is taken up by the moist surface of the 
mucous membrane and carried back toward the outside 
by the movement of the cilia. This arrangement is 
of great importance from the standpoint of health, for 
not only is dust itself injurious to the lungs, but there 
is always the possibility that it may contain the germs 
of disease. Diphtheria, in particular, is easily ac- 
quired through the respiration if the air is taken by 
the mouth and throat instead of by the nose. 

Nature plainly intended that we should breathe 
through the nose, as its interior is adapted for the 
purpose, nevertheless, many people have a fixed habit 
of breathing through the mouth. Sometimes this is 
because their attention has never been called to the 
matter; sometimes there is an obstruction that makes 
nose-breathing difficult or impossible. It is a simple 
matter to find out whether such an obstruction exists 
by shutting the mouth and then making an effort to 



BODILY FUNCTIONS 173 

breathe through the nose. If there is an obstacle, 
breathing will be more or less difficult, and then, by 
closing first one nostril and then the other, it is easy to 
decide whether one side only is obstructed or both. 
When both nostrils are completely closed, breathing is 
impossible while the mouth is shut. Nasal obstruc- 
tions are of several different kinds. There may be a 
growth at the back of the nose, or the mucous mem- 
brane lining the nose may be thickened from chronic 
inflammation, or the little bones in the interior are so 
distorted in shape as to close the passage. Whenever 
it is discovered that an obstruction of some kind exists, 
a specialist should be consulted. In many cases, in 
fact in most of them, the trouble can be entirely re- 
lieved by some simple treatment. 

If no obstruction exists, and the mouth breathing is 
nothing but a bad habit, every effort should be made to 
overcome it. It is comparatively easy for young per- 
sons to do so and it is of great importance to their 
health that they should. One inducement towards 
making the effort, which ought to weigh strongly with 
young girls, is that the half -open mouth, always pres- 
ent in habitual mouth-breathers, gives the face a stupid, 
almost idiotic expression that detracts greatly from 
personal appearance. Conscientious effort to breathe 
through the nose with the mouth shut will do a great 
deal to cure the habit of mouth-breathing. Care must 
be taken to see that the passage through the nose is 

13 



174 GIRL AND WOMAN 

kept free from temporary obstruction, such as mucus. 
The nostrils must be cleansed night and morning, with 
soap and water and a bit of soft rag, but it is not 
advisable to use a nasal douche without a doctor's 
sanction. The little hairs at the margin of the nos- 
tril must never be trimmed. 

The proper disposition of atmospheric dust is a most 
important element in health and one in which women 
are especially concerned. If, as Ruskin assures us, 
dust is only a substance misplaced, the manner of its 
misplacement is one for serious consideration, for its 
irritating qualities make it most injurious to the lungs 
and throat, to say nothing of the fact that it is often 
the bearer of disease germs. The method of dusting 
deserves far more attention than it is the custom to 
bestow upon it. Its aim should be to collect all the 
dust possible and then dispose of it safely out of the 
way of doing further harm; but the practical result of 
the method generally employed is to scatter all the dust 
in a room into the surrounding atmosphere and so fa- 
cilitate its doing as much harm as possible. It would 
be hard to invent an implement better adapted to the 
harmful distribution of dust than the feather duster, 
so dear to the heart of housewives. A cotton or silk 
duster is only one degree better, so long as it is dry. 
The great and important point in a duster is that it 
shall be moist, so that the dust will adhere to it and 
can then be removed by washing. The best material 



BODILY FUNCTIONS 175 

for the purpose is cheese-cloth, but any soft loose- 
meshed substance will do. It must be slightly but 
thoroughly dampened, not enough to leave wet lines in 
its track, but sufficiently to take up the dust on the sur- 
face over which it passes. After such a duster has 
done its work it must be washed, or at least placed in 
water ready for washing ; it must never be used again 
just as it is. 

The patent sweeper with a top serves its purpose by 
collecting the dust which it removes from the floor, in 
a closed receptacle; but when the straw broom is em- 
ployed, the surface to be swept ought to be covered 
with some moist substance, such as the old-fashioned 
tea leaves, to which the dust will adhere. Clouds of 
dust, raised in sweeping a dry floor, are one of the 
most effectual means in the world for distributing the 
germs of disease. I once knew a case of severe ill- 
ness which there was every reason to believe 
had its origin in the dust from the floor of a railway 
station. A traveler, who sat waiting for a train in the 
small hours of the morning, had fallen asleep on a 
bench in the waiting room, when he was aroused by a 
feeling of suffocation, and found himself choking in 
clouds of evil-smelling dust, raised, as he perceived, 
by the caretaker, who was beginning his daily cleaning 
without making any attempt to keep down the dust col- 
lected by the feet of the passers-by during the day be- 
fore. Forty-eight hours later the traveler was taken 



176 GIRL AND WOMAN 

ill with a bad attack of infective bronchitis, the germs 
of which had no doubt been deposited on the waiting 
room floor in the expectoration of someone with the 
complaint. 

This is not the place for any detailed discussion of 
the question of ventilation, but there are a few sug- 
gestions available for individual application that may 
be useful here. The word ventilation comes from the 
Latin ventus, a wind, and is used to signify a move- 
ment of the atmosphere by means of which fresh air, 
if possible from the outside, is introduced, while the 
vitiated air is removed. The oxygen in every room 
occupied by human beings is always being exhausted, 
of course, not only by the human beings themselves, 
but by fires, gas-burners, and other means of heating 
and lighting, as well as by animals, if any are present, 
while at the same time the carbon dioxid is continually 
increased. As a matter of fact, however, the atmos- 
phere of a room is injurious to health long before the 
oxygen is exhausted or the carbon dioxid in excess, 
the evil effects being due, as science has recently 
shown, to increase of heat and moisture in the expired 
air. Everyone is familiar with the headache, drowsi- 
ness, and other ill feelings experienced after spending 
some time in a room without proper ventilation occu- 
pied by human beings, and if these bad conditions are 
kept up day after day, they result in permanent injury 
to health. Girls who work in factories, for instance, 



BODILY FUNCTIONS 177 

or other crowded workrooms, are nearly always in 
feeble health and liable to disease ; but fortunately sim- 
ple means for removing the difficulty are always at 
hand at the expense of very little trouble. 

Every room occupied by human beings ought to 
have its windows and doors open for some part of 
every day, but when the rooms are crowded for the 
whole day this is not sufficient. Rooms used by suc- 
cessive relays of people, as classrooms, can be ven- 
tilated between the classes ; but when this is not possi- 
ble, as in workrooms, small schoolhouses, or even 
sometimes family sitting rooms, some means must be 
found of renewing the air while the room is occupied. 
Sometimes this can be accomplished by lowering the 
upper sash of the windows, and so permitting the es- 
cape of the upper layers of hot, exhausted air; but if 
the room is so crowded that some persons are obliged 
to sit directly under a window they will feel too much 
draft. A device which does good service under these 
circumstances is to raise the lower sash from three to 
six inches and close the opening with a piece of board 
fitted to its size. The fresh air enters between the 
sashes, but as it does so it must take an upward direc- 
tion and cannot blow upon anyone. Any carpenter 
can furnish a piece of board six inches wide, which can 
be cut the desired length by anyone with a saw, and if 
a board is not available, a number of newspapers rolled 
up into a pad of proper size will answer the purpose. 



178 GIRL AND WOMAN 

The means of introducing a reasonable amount of ven- 
tilation then are at the command of everyone, for there 
is no one who cannot obtain a package of old newspa- 
pers; and if girls working in crowded close rooms will 
only take the trouble to fit a ventilator of this descrip- 
tion, whether board or newspapers, into each of the 
windows of the room in which they work, the good 
effects upon their general health will be marked. 

But air inside a house, no matter how much is done 
for its ventilation, can never take the place of the out- 
side air. A certain amount of time passed in the out- 
side air is necessary to health, quite apart from any 
question of exercise. It is possible to take exercise in 
the house, and a great deal of time can be spent out 
of doors without any exercise at all. Unless the 
weather is bitterly cold or very inclement, it is possible 
to read, write, sew, and do many other useful things 
out of doors, if we accustom ourselves to the practice. 
The habit of occupation out of doors is of great im- 
portance to the health of young girls. At this period 
of rapid growth, when heavy demands are being made 
upon the vitality, some girls have not sufficient strength 
for vigorous bodily exercise, and then if there is any 
tendency to anemia or to disturbed action of the heart, 
as we have seen sometimes happens, walking for more 
than very short distances is too much. Girls who can 
command carriages and automobiles are only a for- 
tunate few, and for the less fortunate, who, of course, 



BODILY FUNCTIONS 179 

are much in the majority, sitting out of doors is 
the great resource. 

Nothing, I repeat, is more important to health in 
girlhood than abundance of fresh, outdoor air, and for 
girls whose strength is at all below par, sitting out of 
doors and carrying on their occupations is one of the 
most valuable means at our command for preserving 
and building up strength and vitality. After a few 
years when growth is complete and all the life proc- 
esses are established on the normal basis of woman- 
hood, the girl will be a strong woman, able once more 
to take all kinds of active bodily exercise; but she will 
be a stronger, healthier woman all her life if this plan 
of getting fresh air without fatigue is carried out. I 
have emphasized this point, not only because of its im- 
portance, but because it is curiously hard to induce 
people to take such simple measures for the benefit of 
health. There seems to be some deeply-rooted preju- 
dice in human nature which makes us unwilling to try 
a measure likely to improve our physical condition un- 
less it is, so to speak, guaranteed by the expenditure of 
money or trouble. It was a perception of this preju- 
dice which caused a wise old family doctor to remark 
that he wished sunlight was expensive, for then he 
could get his patients to make use of it. 

The habit of occupation out of doors is of great ser- 
vice to girls and in fact to women also, during the 
monthly period. The amount of active exercise taken 



i8o GIRL AND WOMAN 

must then be more or less curtailed, but the amount of 
time passed in the open air should, if possible, be in- 
creased, and a girl who adapts her life along these 
lines does much for her own comfort and welfare. 

III. EXERCISE 

The present generation is witness to a remarkable 
change in the attitude of public opinion towards physi- 
cal exercise for girls. Fifty years ago their brothers 
were no better off than they as far as organized physi- 
cal activity was concerned, the first gymnasium for 
boys in this country being opened in Harvard in 1826, 
in one of the dining halls. But there was never a time 
when boys could not enjoy all kinds of active out-door 
pursuits and games, whereas girls were excluded from 
the quietest of them under penalty of losing caste and 
being condemned as rude and unfeminine. For the 
country girl a decorous walk along a country road and 
for her city sister an expedition into the shopping dis- 
trict, were all the means of physical activity at the 
command of women up to comparatively a few years 
ago. Even such restricted amusements as the above 
had to be partaken of in the most subdued manner, all 
freedom of movement or exhibition of animal spirits 
being sternly repressed and severely criticised. Bishop 
Potter, in his excellent article on recreations for wom- 
en in Harper's Bazar, has drawn a true picture of the 
girl of our grandmother's day as she appeared abroad, 



BODILY FUNCTIONS 181 

" She walked," he says, " like a trussed fowl, with her 
hands crossed in front of her and with a rigidity of 
movement which, in her time, was defined as ' thor- 
oughly ladylike.' " 

Even if a girl's parents had been sufficiently ad- 
vanced to place the laws of health before those of con- 
ventionality, her improved physique would have been 
no advantage to her in some respects. A glance at the 
novels of one or two generations ago shows us how 
high was the aesthetic value then placed upon fragility 
of form and delicacy of appearance; and such being 
the canons of womanly beauty, a parent who sacrificed 
these desirable attributes to health and vigor would 
have been in much the same position as a Chinese 
father who declined to have his daughter's feet bound. 
No matter how much a Chinese grandee may be con- 
vinced of the evils of foot-binding, he dare not defy 
immemorial usage in the case of his own child, be- 
cause, as he truly says, her chances of matrimony 
would then be extremely small. Western civilization 
does not sanction such baldness of speech, but the prin- 
ciple involved is a fundamental one, and seventy-five 
years ago a strong, robust girl would have found no 
favor in the eyes of the other sex. 

But all this unreasonableness is a thing of the past. 
To-day public opinion smiles upon the girl who dis- 
tinguishes herself in athletic pursuits, and large feet, 
generous waists, and sun-burned skins are spoken of 



182 GIRL AND WOMAN 

with approval, if not admiration. Hardly any variety 
of athletic pursuit is now denied to women, and even 
in the short space of time that her path to them has 
been open, she has shown that she can hold her own, 
and that, within certain restrictions, she is the better 
for doing so. I say within certain restrictions, because 
there are distinct fundamental differences between the 
sexes which must always render some of the more se- 
vere forms of athletics unsuitable for women. As 
Dean Briggs said, when addressing the graduating 
class at Wellesley College, " Fiercely competitive ath- 
letics have their dangers for men, but they develop 
manly strength. For women their dangers are greater 
and the qualities they tend to develop are not wom- 
anly." 

The first of all things to be considered from the 
point of view of physical activity is a correct carriage 
of the body. A faulty carriage is one of the ugliest 
things in the world, besides being one of the most un- 
healthful; moreover, it is wholly unnecessary, for it 
can always be prevented, except of course, in cases of 
actual deformity. Women are much more apt to have 
an awkward carriage than men, partly, no doubt, be- 
cause so little attention has hitherto been paid to their 
physical training. Occasionally a girl is gifted by na- 
ture with a good movement in walking and a fine car- 
riage of the body, but the number of such fortunate 
persons is small. Most girls must acquire these at- 



BODILY FUNCTIONS 183 

tributes for themselves by means of care and effort, 
and girlhood is the time when it must be done, for in 
later life when the bones of the skeleton are completely 
hardened, the best efforts can achieve only partial suc- 
cess. The two great means of acquiring a good car- 
riage are the avoidance of careless, ungraceful habits 
of walking and standing, and attention to whatever 
form of physical training is available. One simple 
means of improving her walk and manner of holding 
herself which any girl can practice, is to walk about 
the room and then up and down stairs with a pail full 
of pebbles or sand upon her head. The graceful car- 
riage of so many uncivilized women is owing to their 
practice in this art and even the most modified use of 
the custom has remarkably good effects. 

The proper posture in standing is square on both 
feet, which should be from one to six inches apart, 
with the heels well in line and the toes turned slightly 
outward. The arms should hang easily at the sides 
and the body must be drawn up erect to its full height, 
with the shoulders held square and thrust a little back- 
ward, and the chin drawn inward. All other parts of 
the body will then fall easily into the right position. 
The weight of the body ought to rest on the ball of the 
foot rather than on the heel. 

In sitting down it is important to sit upon the whole 
seat of the chair, not upon its edge. An easy attitude 
is impossible when sitting on the edge of the chair, and 



184 GIRL AND WOMAN 

an attitude which is not easy is never graceful nor 
healthful. The feet should rest on the floor with ease 
and if the chair is too high for this, there ought to be 
a footstool. It is a very bad plan to lounge when 
seated on a chair. Rest, with relief from the upright 
position, is a good thing occasionally for everyone and 
especially for a girl who is growing rapidly; but it 
ought to be on a sofa, a lounge, or a bed. If a, chair 
is used for it, it should be one with a deep seat and a 
back high enough to support the head, such as a Morris 
chair. 

In walking, the figure must be held erect, so that 
the back, the neck and the shoulders are in a straight 
line. The feet should point straight ahead or very 
slightly outward, while the weight of the body must 
be thrown to the outer side of the foot, which is the 
strongest. When the inside edge of a shoe begins to 
wear out much before the outside edge, it shows that 
the weight is not properly thrown, or the feet are not 
properly held. The body must incline somewhat for- 
ward from the waist with the shoulders well set back, 
and on going up hill, the inclination of the body must 
be increased. Its stride should be easy and free, with 
the legs moving from the hips and the arms hanging 
loosely at the sides. 

And just here a word should be said as to the ugly 
and ungainly fashion of walking which is now becom- 
ing far too common. When physical culture first be- 



BODILY FUNCTIONS 185 

came the fashion for girls, its advocates believed that 
everything needed in physical life was covered by free- 
dom of movement and activity. But as time has gone 
on, it has become apparent that although physical exer- 
cise makes girls healthy and gives them strength and 
freedom, it does not, of itself, make them graceful. 
Some of the women who pay most attention to physi- 
cal culture are singularly ungraceful. In nothing is 
this defect of physical training more apparent than in 
the long ungainly stride and swinging arms affected by 
the athletic girl of to-day. The steps in walking 
should not be longer than the length of the limbs per- 
mit with ease. A step that is natural and graceful for 
a tall girl with slender limbs, is distinctly too long for 
a short girl with wide hips and much adipose tissue on 
her lower limbs. Whenever an effort is perceptible in 
the stride, the length of it is too great ; it ought to be 
unnoticeable in the general movement of the body. 

The widely swinging arms are another great defect, 
and while no one could wish to renew the fashion of 
the trussed fowl, described by Bishop Potter, it is im- 
possible not to regret the disappearance of the lady-like 
feeling which controlled a girl's movements in those 
days. 

Many persons interested in girls' physical education 
are beginning to ask what remedy can be found for 
this lack of grace and elegance, and it has been sug- 
gested that it will be found in dancing. Not dancing 



186 GIRL AND WOMAN 

as it takes place at entertainments for amusement, but 
aesthetic or, as it is sometimes called, figure dancing. 
It gives training in the harmonious movement of the 
arms, the head and all the movements of the body, 
and it is also of value in the acquirement of co-ordina- 
tion. Nor is its mental training to be despised, for if 
the different movements of the body are to be executed 
in harmony, they must be directed simultaneously by 
the mind. Such dancing is not a mere moving of the 
feet to movement. A well-trained dancer must ex- 
press what she feels and appeal through her move- 
ments to the feelings of others. It is this quality that 
makes the difference between a dancer and a gymnast. 
All these things give dancing a strong claim to atten- 
tion in physical education, and those who are inter- 
ested in overcoming the present defects of physical 
training for girls, are making an effort to have it in- 
troduced as a systematic part of gymnastic work. It 
is greatly to be hoped that they may succeed. 

By far the most common form of out-door exercise 
is walking, for the obvious reason that everybody, 
except cripples, has the means of doing it at disposal. 
There are different kinds and degrees of walking, 
from the stroll around the garden to a ten-mile walk 
across country. To make any kind of walking bene- 
ficial to the health, one thing is necessary, namely, that 
it shall be enjoyed. A walk taken against the will, or 
in the company of sad thoughts, anxieties, or annoy- 



BODILY FUNCTIONS 187 

ances, can do no one any good. Some people enjoy 
walking for itself ; they take pleasure in the motion, in 
the sense of freedom, in the general appearance of 
things around them. Others, with more or less trained 
tastes for botany, geology, and other forms of nature 
study, find enjoyment in the objects upon the road. 
But there is a third class of walkers, and a large one, 
whose pleasure in a walk lies mainly, if not wholly, in 
its object. This last variety of walker is at a disad- 
vantage compared with the other two; nevertheless, 
such people get a great deal of benefit from a walk 
which has the pleasure of anticipation one way and 
that of retrospection the other. Some enjoyment in 
the walk there must be, or it is better to stay at home 
and carry on some congenial occupation in the open air. 
Cross-country walking, as it is- called, has never been 
so popular in this country as abroad, probably because 
the climate in most parts of the United States is un- 
suited to it during the greater part of the year. 
Nevertheless, there is a certain amount of it with us 
and to people who enjoy it nothing is more delightful 
nor more healthful. But it requires time, strength, 
endurance, opportunity, proper equipment, and above 
all inclination. No one who does not enjoy walking 
for its own sake ought ever to undertake it or she will 
be a burden to herself and to others. Girls who set 
out on a walk across country must not only be prepared 
for obstacles, but enjoy them ; fences, hedges, ditches, 



188 GIRL AND WOMAN 

swamps, hills, valleys, brooks, briars, are all part of 
the day's work. A walk of this kind ought always to 
be taken in the morning, if possible, and it is a great 
mistake to waste time and strength in walking to the 
place where the country part of the walk is to begin. 
Those who live in cities will do wisely to take a trolley 
until they are beyond the city limit and so save all their 
strength for the country. 

The rate and length of a walk are matters of in- 
dividual taste and endurance. Three miles an hour 
is a good average rate. Not many American girls can 
walk as much as ten miles at a stretch ; five or six is a 
better limit for them. A healthy girl after such a walk 
ought to feel hungry for her next meal and should 
sleep soundly as soon as she goes to bed, getting up 
next day quite refreshed. If she is too tired to eat, if 
she lies awake from fatigue, or if she feels used up 
next day, the walk has been too long for her, and she 
will get more harm than good from it. Beginners 
often make the mistake of taking too long walks, for- 
getting that most people have to train themselves by 
degrees. A few weeks or months of practice will en- 
able a girl to take walks that were quite beyond her 
power at first. 

A suitable dress is essential for cross-country walk- 
ing; a short skirt, coming just below the top of the 
boot being its most important feature. The material 
of the skirt ought to be light in weight, with a smooth 



BODILY FUNCTIONS 189 

surface. Fuzzy surfaces or those with raised patterns 
are constantly catching burrs or briars, to say nothing 
of unnecessary dust. Denim makes a good inexpen- 
sive skirt. The skirt should be made without pleats, 
except a couple at the back to give freedom of move- 
ment. The waist ought to be some form of blouse 
and one made of wash material is best. If there is 
any danger of being chilly it is better to carry a light 
jacket than to wear a woolen waist. 

The boots should be laced neatly, but not tightly, 
because the feet and ankles are liable to swell. For 
this reason some people prefer low shoes, but unless 
the swelling is marked it seems a pity to lose the 
support of a boot around the ankle. Tan leather is 
cooler than black and does not show dust so freely. 
The heels must be low and flat, an inch to an inch and 
a quarter in height is about right. Care ought to be 
taken to see that they do not become worn down on 
one side. As soon as they show any tendency this way 
they should be straightened, for if the foot is not in 
the right position while walking, the fatigue of motion 
is greatly increased. 

The choice of stockings is not without importance, 
for the foot is rubbed by an ill-fitting stocking even 
more quickly than by an ill-fitting shoe. The stocking 
must be the exact size of the foot and of moderate 
thickness. It is a mistake to wear thin stockings on 
long walks, for there is great danger of wearing holes 



190 GIRL AND WOMAN 

in them, and then the shoe will rub the skin. Garters, 
whether below or above the knee, are most objection- 
able on account of their interference with the circula- 
tion. 

The hat should be light in weight, with a brim, 
but no trimming except a scarf of muslin or silk. Or- 
naments of any kind upon it are out of place. It is 
the fashion nowadays to go without a hat altogether, 
but this is a mistake, for sunburn of the hair is very 
injurious, giving it a dull, faded look and making it 
harsh and brittle. 

Riding on horseback is one of the most delightful of 
outdoor exercises, but the expense involved is so great 
as to make it out of the question for all but the favored 
few. It is a pity, however, that those who can com- 
mand the means for it do not acquire the art of riding 
well. Driving is, of course, only a passive means of 
exercise, and holds much the same position as sitting 
out of doors, except that it has the advantage of af- 
fording change of surroundings. For delicate girls or 
those who are temporarily incapacitated it is an excel- 
lent thing, but for strong, vigorous girls some more 
active form of exercise is better. Moreover, driving, 
like riding, involves more or less expense. Bicycle 
riding is now largely a thing of the past; it has its 
good and its bad side. No doubt it does, as its advo- 
cates claim, take the mind off cares and worries and 
give a complete mental change, together with fresh air 



BODILY FUNCTIONS 191 

and muscular exercise. On the other hand, it obliges 
such incessant attention to itself that enjoyment of 
scenery or agreeable conversation with a companion 
are impossible, and it rarely fails to develop a species 
of obsession which destroys all pleasure in any other 
variety of amusement. As a means of getting over 
ground it is useful and there are some cases for which 
its special recommendations as a form of activity out- 
balance its disadvantages; but there is certainly no 
reason for regret that its day is pretty well over. 

One of the most healthful and delightful forms of 
outdoor exercise is skating, and it is a pity our enjoy- 
ment of it in this climate is so limited. There is noth- 
ing which shows the difference between past and pres- 
ent so strongly as the change in public opinion as re- 
gards the propriety of skating for girls. In our 
grandmothers' time it was considered almost as inde- 
corous as the flying trapeze. An old lady once told 
me that in her childhood, now nearly eighty years ago, 
her desire to skate with her brothers was refused per- 
emptorily as unladylike and tomboyish. Other little 
girls submitted meekly to the restraint, but this one, 
having more independence and inventiveness than her 
companions, constructed a pair of skates from the in- 
verted breastbones of turkeys, and with these primitive 
implements she skated surreptitiously upon the ice in 
the gutters as long as their frail support lasted. 

Now that these restrictions are a thing of the past, 



192 . GIRL AND WOMAN 

every girl ought to know how to skate and practice the 
accomplishment whenever the opportunity offers, for 
as a means of physical activity in the open air it has no 
equal. The exhilaration and excitement accompany- 
ing the rapid motion in the cold air are delightful be- 
yond expression, and the objection, sometimes made, 
of possible danger, is groundless, if only the most 
reasonable precautions are taken. It is within the 
power of anyone to ascertain the thickness of the ice 
to be skated on and to keep away from thin places. 
Two inches of clear black ice is sufficient to bear; if it 
is not perfectly clear it must be thicker ; and snow ice, 
which is quite insecure, must be of considerable depth. 
Patent screw skates which do not require straps 
are best, for straps interfere with the circulation in 
the feet. If strap skates are used, they must be 
buckled with perfect evenness. The extreme length of 
the skate should not exceed the length of the boot, and 
when putting it on the blade ought to follow a line 
from the center of the heel to the center of the toe of 
the skate. The blade must be moderately sharp. The 
boots should be laced, not buttoned, with a low, level 
heel, not more than an inch in height. The only cases 
in which skating is not a healthful exercise are those 
of persons whose circulation is so poor that they can- 
not keep warm, even with all possible precautions. If 
a girl finds that, in spite of additional warm clothing 
she continues to feel chilly, or her feet are persistently 



BODILY FUNCTIONS 193 

cold and numb, she had better give up skating, for the 
time being, at any rate. Fortunately such cases are 
extremely rare, and even when they occur, a few years' 
interval with corresponding improvement in the gen- 
eral health will very likely remove the difficulty. 

In places where the climate permits little opportunity 
for enjoyment upon frozen water, there is so much 
the more to be had from water in its natural state. 
Not a few girls make beautiful rowers, though there is 
a certain tendency with them to take all the strength of 
the pull from the arms instead of from the back, which 
is the place from which it should come; the arms are 
only the medium through which the strength is exerted. 
Long continued rowing with the strength taken from 
the arms will result in a contraction of the chest instead 
of expansion and the shoulders will get a forward, in- 
stead of a backward inclination. This tendency to 
neglect the muscles of the back seems to be innate in 
women and therefore girls should take great pains 
from the beginning to bring them into play. Another 
defect apt to appear in girls' rowing is burying the oar 
too deeply on the stroke and then carrying it too far 
up on the recovery. This is what is known as a 
" rocking-horse rowing." The blade of the oar ought 
to be only just neatly covered by the water during the 
stroke, and then carried just clear of the water on the 
recovery. 

The girl who rows ought, as a matter of course, to 



194 GIRL AND WOMAN 

know how to swim. In fact, a girl who cannot swim 
should not row in water more than three to four feet 
deep, a restriction which greatly interferes with the 
pleasure of rowing. But apart from any question of 
safety, swimming as a physical exercise is full of en- 
joyment. Whenever a girl has a chance to learn 
swimming, she ought to take it, but her first efforts 
must always be superintended by someone with ex- 
perience, for if she should have any unsuspected heart 
weakness, it may show itself suddenly under the exer- 
tion. A difficulty which girls have to contend with in 
swimming is that their bathing suits are almost always 
too heavy. A bathing suit should be made of the light- 
est possible flannel, and it is much better for it not to 
have a skirt. Full knickerbockers make a perfectly 
modest and ladylike costume and anyone who has ever 
tried swimming with and without a skirt will appre- 
ciate the amount of discomfort caused by one. 

Of all the various terrestrial amusements golf is 
probably the one which, taking all things together, has 
most to offer. It keeps the player in the open air for 
long spaces of time without violent exertion and pos- 
sible over-taxation of strength ; it is possible to play it 
almost all the year round ; it does not require unusual 
vigor or muscular development ; it can be played alone, 
so far as enjoyment is concerned, without either an- 
tagonist or spectators ; and finally, it is possible to play 
an agreeable game over rough surroundings not es- 



BODILY FUNCTIONS 195 

pecially prepared for the purpose. Over and above all 
these excellencies, golf possesses the additional merits 
of exerting an admirable moral influence, arising from 
its constant struggle towards perfection independent of 
competition. 

Tennis is a game for the robust only. In itself 
there is much to recommend it, and no doubt many 
girls growing up to-day are vigorous enough to play it 
just as their brothers do; nevertheless, the fact remains 
that it is a pastime which demands strength and endur- 
ance in considerable amount. Any girl who attempts 
tennis and finds that after a reasonable interval al- 
lowed for training, she cannot play without excessive 
effort or long-enduring fatigue, ought to give it up. 

Basket ball and hockey are still more strenuous than 
tennis, moreover they are games which must be played 
in teams and are, therefore, especially suited for 
schools and colleges. There is a certain antagonism to 
them among conservative people, because they are vio- 
lent and (at any rate in appearance) very rude. More- 
over, the element of danger is by no means absent. It 
is quite certain that the " fiercely competitive element " 
condemned by Dean Briggs, is present in all match 
games between different institutions, and time only can 
show whether the objections on this score are strong 
enough to make interschool and intercollegiate games 
wholly unsuitable for girls. But as an outlet for ani- 
mal spirits and youthful energy among healthy young 



196 GIRL AND WOMAN 

girls living in communities without the element of out- 
side competition, they certainly serve a useful purpose. 
Most boarding schools for girls have now some provi- 
sion for basket-ball, and this resource, together with 
other forms of outdoor exercise, is one reason why the 
outbursts of hysteria, running through the whole 
school, which used to be a feature of such institutions, 
are now a thing of the past. Moreover, these pursuits 
afford an outlet for the high spirits and love of excite- 
ment characteristic of girlhood, which formerly found 
expression in all kinds of mischief and insubordina- 
tion. 

IV. SLEEP 

Nothing is more important to the health of the 
young than abundance of sleep. The amount of sleep 
necessary in adult life differs with different individ- 
uals, and some persons get along with very little ; but 
no young person can do this. Up to twenty or twenty- 
one years of age the allowance of sleep cannot be less- 
ened without serious bad effects. Every girl between 
twelve and fifteen ought to have ten hours' sleep and 
between fifteen and twenty, nine hours. That is to 
say, she ought not to have less than that amount. If 
she can take more, so much the better for her. There 
is, or at any rate there ought to be, no difficulty in pro- 
viding this amount of sleep for a young girl. If she is 
in bed and asleep by half past nine and gets up at half 
past seven, she has had the full allowance. 



BODILY FUNCTIONS 197 

Many persons have fixed ideas as to their sleeping 
arrangements and believe that they cannot possibly 
sleep unless the conditions are those to which they are 
accustomed. It is a great pity to get into the 
habit of being dependent upon any sort of external 
condition and young people ought to train themselves 
carefully to disregard such things. It is just as easy 
to train one's self to be independent of externals as to 
train one's self the other way. Only two things are 
really necessary to healthy sleep ; fresh air and warmth 
of the body. To obtain these conditions it is justifi- 
able to make an effort and give trouble to other peo- 
ple, but not for anything else. 

The atmosphere of a sleeping room is of real im- 
portance to health. When we remember that over 
one-third of our time is passed in sleep, it is obvious 
that the atmosphere in the room in which we sleep 
is a matter of some little importance, and as we are 
unable to do anything to regulate the atmosphere while 
we sleep, it is desirable to make preparations for ven- 
tilation before going to bed. The windows of a sleep- 
ing room ought to be open both in summer and win- 
ter. To sleep with the windows open is largely a mat- 
ter of habit, and there is no healthy girl who cannot 
accustom herself to it. It is true that if anyone who 
has not been used to sleeping with the windows open, 
makes her first trial of it during cold weather, she 
will, quite likely, catch cold; but this is a small mat- 



198 GIRL AND WOMAN 

ter compared to the benefit resulting from the habit in 
the long run. 

No one, of course, ought, in the old-fashioned 
phrase, to " sleep cold," but there is no reason for do- 
ing this even if the windows are open. Unfortunately 
there are many persons who consider it a fixed princi- 
ple of health that the heating apparatus in a room, 
whether it is a fire, a stove, a hot-air flue, or a steam 
radiator, shall be shut off on going to bed. This idea 
has a curious hold even upon people who possess no 
real hygienic principles whatever, but it is an entirely 
mistaken one from which much mischief has sprung. 
To sleep in a room with the heat turned on and the 
windows shut is very unhealthy, of course, but there is 
no reason whatever that the heat should be turned off, 
if the windows are open. The temperature of a sleep- 
ing room should be about 55 deg. to 60 deg. F., 
and of course it will fall greatly below this during 
the winter in a room where the windows are open, if 
there is no artificial heat. Bodily warmth is necessary 

to sleep, therefore the bed-clothes ought to be warm, 

4 
but this does not mean that they should be heavy. 

The down quilts now in use are a great blessing, for 
they give the maximum of warmth with the minimum 
of weight. It is a pity they are so often regarded in 
the light of luxuries, for one of them is really not so 
expensive as a good pair of blankets, and far more use- 
ful. Whatever the covering to the bed may be, the 



BODILY FUNCTIONS 199 

heavy outer spread of white material should be taken 
off at night, for it presses upon the body and keeps it 
from assuming comfortable attitudes while sleeping 
without contributing to warmth. There ought always 
to be some additional covering near at hand which can 
be drawn up in the early morning when the room is 
coldest and the vitality of the body at the lowest. On 
getting up in the morning the bed clothes ought to be 
turned back completely from the foot of the bed, and 
if the windows are shut while dressing, they must be 
opened again when the toilet is finished, so that the 
inside of the bed shall have a chance to be thoroughly 
exposed to the fresh air. 

A great deal has been written and said about the 
position in sleeping, but after all, the best position is 
that which is the most comfortable. It makes no real 
difference whether a person lies on the side or the 
back, or even on the face ; whether the head is high or 
low. The only question of importance is whether 
the attitude is comfortable and the sleep is good. As a 
matter of fact many people cannot sleep on the back 
without being restless and uncomfortable, with horri- 
ble dreams or nightmare. There are a few persons, 
however, who sleep more comfortably on the back than 
in any other posture. 

Sleeplessness, or to call it by its technical name, 
insomnia, is rare in young girls ; when it does occur, it 
is a sign that the nervous system is much out of order. 



200 GIRL AND WOMAN 

Nervous disturbance in young people, however, is more 
apt to show itself in restless sleep, with bad dreams 
and nightmares, or sudden and terrified awakenings, 
than in the absence of sleep. Another form of ner- 
vous disturbance is sleep-walking. All these disturb- 
ances are especially apt to manifest themselves about 
puberty. They are always a sign that something is 
wrong with the nervous system, and if the cause is 
sought, it will usually be found in some nervous strain 
or pressure. Too much school-work, anxiety and 
worry about standing in classes or in examinations, 
exciting reading out of school, when time should be 
spent out of doors in the open air, — are all favoring 
causes. Disturbance of sleep in young girls is rare, 
but when it does occur, whatever its cause, it is a 
serious thing and should never be neglected. 



CHAPTER VIII 

PERSONAL HYGIENE 

Skin — Bathing — Complexion — Teeth — Hair — Hands 
— Feet — Eyes — Ears. 

The skin consists of two layers : the epidermis, or 
outer skin, and the true skin, or dermis. In the lower 
portion of the true skin are the sweat glands which 
discharge their secretion by means of ducts opening on 
the surface of the epidermis. These glands are pres- 
ent almost all over the body and it has been estimated 
that there are altogether about two millions of them. 
A considerable part of the excretion of the body is 
done by the sweat glands, a good deal of water being 
removed by them each day as well as various waste 
products, the whole forming the sweat, or perspiration. 
The sweat glands also perform an important function 
in the regulation of the temperature of the body. 

If the sweat glands, for any reason, fail to act, per- 
spiration ceases altogether and death takes place in the 
course of a few hours, partly because the waste prod- 
ucts that should be excreted by the skin collect in the 
blood and act as poisons to the body, and partly be- 
cause the temperature-is no longer properly regulated. 



202 GIRL AND WOMAN 

This is why superficial burns, if they co^er a large part 
of the body, are dangerous, so many of the sweat 
glands being destroyed that the waste products accu- 
mulate to a fatal degree. 

The outermost cells in the epidermis are continually 
being thrown off and replaced by new cells from be- 
low. On these superficial cells the dried perspiration 
collects, mixed with dust and dirt from the atmos- 
phere, the whole forming a film that chokes the open- 
ing of the sweat glands, commonly known as the 
" pores of the skin " and interferes with their activity. 
To maintain health this film should be removed by 
means of a daily bath, followed by brisk rubbing which 
aids in its removal beside stimulating the activity of 
the sweat glands. Of course there are plenty of peo- 
ple who do not take a daily bath and yet seem to en- 
joy excellent health, the dried epidermis being re- 
moved to a certain extent by the friction of the cloth- 
ing: But without daily attention to the skin the sweat 
glands are always sluggish and more or less choked, 
which means that the kidneys are forced to undertake 
more than their share of the excretion of the body 
and in the long run they suffer from overwork. We 
do not know how many of the people who neglect the 
care of their skins and yet seem in good health suf- 
fer ultimately from disease of the kidneys that might 
have been avoided. 

But there is a wider significance in personal cleanli- 



PERSONAL HYGIENE 203 

ness than appears in its physical relations. A strong 
moral influence tending to self-respect lies behind the 
daily bath, and the importance attached to bathing in 
many countries as a part of religious observances and 
ceremonial rites probably had its origin in the percep- 
tion of this fact. 

A full bath, once in every twenty- four hours, is a 
duty incumbent upon every girl and she should take 
pains to acquire the habit in girlhood when she as- 
sumes the charge of her own toilet, if it has not been 
formed before. The only question in regard to the 
bath is what kind it shall be and what is the most con- 
venient way of taking it. 

A cold plunge into a tub on first getting up in the 
morning is the ideal thing, but not every girl is strong 
enough to stand it and not every girl can command the 
requisite facilities for it. Any doubt as to whether 
the strength is equal to a cold plunge bath is deter- 
mined by its after-effects. No bath is properly taken 
unless it is followed by brisk friction over the whole 
body, in order to remove the dried flakes of epidermis 
and stimulate the circulation. On first coming out of 
the water the skin should be carefully dried with a 
soft towel that absorbs moisture easily, and this should 
be followed by a vigorous rubbing with a dry towel, 
as rough and coarse as possible or else some sort of 
flesh-brush. When the rubbing is finished, the skin 
should be red and the nails pink, and there should be a 



204 GIRL AND WOMAN 

sensation of warmth and pleasant exhilaration. If, 
in spite of vigorous friction, there is a feeling of chilli- 
ness, and the skin is pallid, with the appearance known 
as " goose-flesh," while the lips and nails are blue, the 
bath has done more harm than good. 

It is a pity, however, to give up a cold plunge bath 
on the first failure, for the want of success may be due 
to imperfection in some of the details which can be 
remedied. Some women can stand a much colder bath 
than others. Water between 65 ° and 75 ° F. is dis- 
tinctly cool and many people get a good reaction after 
a bath at this temperature, who cannot stand a lower 
one. The temperature of the room in which the 
bather dresses after the bath has a decided influence 
on the reaction. The bathroom itself need not be 
warm, if the bather can go directly into another of a 
higher temperature, but to dress in a cold room is 
very likely to check the reaction. 

The towel used for friction must be absolutely dry, 
for friction with a damp towel is almost worse than 
no friction at all. This is why two different towels 
must be used. The temperature of the body when the 
bath is taken also has an influence on reaction. A cold 
bath should never be taken when the body is cold. 
The best time for it is just after rising in the morning, 
while the warmth from sleep still remains, for if an in- 
terval is allowed to elapse before taking the bath the 
body will have an opportunity to become chilled, and 



PERSONAL HYGIENE 205 

whenever this occurs the reaction will very likely 
fail. 

If all these minor matters are adjusted and the 
plunge bath is still a failure, it may be possible to make 
it a success by a gradual effort. A tepid bath, with 
water between 8o° and 90 F. may be tried at first, 
and the temperature reduced a trifle each day, until 
the point is reached below which the bather is chilly 
afterwards. By this means it is sometimes possible to 
take a bath at a temperature which, at first, would be 
entirely too low. Coarse salt, if possible sea salt, 
added to the water, is sometimes an aid to reaction. 
But if every effort to take a cold plunge bath has been 
made without success, it had better be given up. No 
benefit will result from it if it is not followed by a 
healthy reaction, and it may do a great deal of harm. 

The next best thing to a cold tub bath is a cold 
sponge, and there is hardly anyone who cannot take it. 
Some people, however, prefer a tub bath in tepid 
water, but in this case there is little or no reaction. 

There is no reason, as was said elsewhere, that a 
cold sponge bath should not be taken during the men- 
strual period, though it may be better not to take a 
cold plunge. 

But cold baths, refreshing and healthful as they are, 
do not altogether satisfy the demands of cleanliness. 
If the skin is to be kept perfectly free from dead epi- 
dermis and dried secretions, a warm or a hot bath 

15 



206 GIRL AND WOMAN 

must be taken two or three times a week. The best 
time to take such a bath is just before going to bed 
at night, when the skin can safely remain relaxed for 
some time. There is a certain prejudice against hot 
baths, because they are believed to be unduly depress- 
ing to the nervous system, but unless the bather re- 
mains in the water a very long time there is no danger 
of such a thing. The same friction should be used as 
after a cold bath. 

There seems to be a great diversity of opinion as to 
the advantages and disadvantages of using soap upon 
the skin, some persons claiming that it does harm, 
while others are sure that it does good. The reason 
for these differences probably arises largely from the 
fact that there is a good deal of difference in the effect 
of soap upon different skins, so that some skins are 
benefited by it, while others are not. The quality of 
soap also has a good deal to do with its effect upon 
the skin. 

Soap is composed of an alkali (potash or soda) and 
an oil. The alkali is useful in lessening the dead epi- 
dermis and furthering its removal, but if it is in ex- 
cess the skin becomes harsh and dry. Cheap soaps 
often contain too much alkali, besides other ingre- 
dients injurious to the skin. It is important to secure 
a good soap, such as the renowned Pears', or the old- 
fashioned castile. If the skin is harsh and dry after a 
really reliable soap has been used, there is reason to 



PERSONAL HYGIENE 207 

conclude that it will not bear the use of soap except 
occasionally. But such skins are not common. 

Unfortunately, bathrooms with set tubs and hot and 
cold water fixtures are not at everybody's command. 
Not a few girls, who live in boarding houses, or other 
crowded quarters have only a limited use of a bath- 
room, not to mention those who reside in remote coun- 
try districts where what are known as " modern com 
veniences " have never been introduced. Girls who 
have to contend with difficulties of this kind may take 
comfort from Miss Florence Nightingale's remark 
that " a bath can be taken in a tea-cup if the inten- 
tions are good." Certainly it can be accomplished 
with extremely limited facilities. 

There are various kinds of tubs which can be used in 
a bedroom. The old-fashioned " hat-tub " answers 
the purpose quite well, but it takes up a great deal of 
room. A small-sized zinc or .tin tub, shaped like a pie- 
dish and about five or six inches deep, can be had for 
small expense and is easily disposed of when out of 
use. Papier mache tubs of this shape are very good 
and delightfully light, but they are rather more ex- 
pensive. Some of the latter are so constructed that 
they can be shut up when not in use. Whatever kind 
of tub is used, except the hat-tub, requires some pro- 
tection under it to prevent wetting the floor. The best 
thing is the sheet of india-rubber cloth sold for the 
purpose, but if this is too expensive, the white enamel 



208 GIRL AND WOMAN 

cloth used to cover kitchen tables makes an excellent 
substitute. 

It is not necessary, however, to have a tub in order 
to take a bath. A basin, a pitcher full of water, a 
piece of soap, a sponge or a washcloth, and a couple 
of towels, are really all the essentials. Then, if a 
piece of enamel cloth is spread upon the floor to stand 
on, it is easy to wash the whole surface of the body 
with as much thoroughness, if not as much luxury, as 
in a tub. If possible, it is well to have two basins, one 
filled with soapsuds and the other with clean water for 
rinsing. 

The skin of the face, otherwise the complexion, re- 
quires special care, because it is the most exposed part 
of the body, a fact which few people realize. All 
parts of the body, except the face and hands, are 
habitually covered by clothing, and even the hands are 
protected out-of-doors by gloves, but the face has noth- 
ing to shelter it from the dust and dirt of the atmos- 
phere, as well as the roughening effects of wind, except 
a thin veil. 

The face should be washed twice in every twenty- 
four hours and one of these times with soap. There 
is a common impression that soap is bad for the com- 
plexion, even though it may be good for the rest of 
the body, and people who employ it habitually on a 
little baby's tender skin will avoid the use of it on their 
faces on the plea that the skin there is too delicate. A 



PERSONAL HYGIENE 209 

moment's thought shows the inconsistency of this 
standpoint. The trouble is that people do not know, 
or if they do know they forget, that the sweat glands 
are abundant on the face, and as the face is peculiarly 
exposed to the dust and dirt of the atmosphere the 
openings of the glands are liable to be choked. There 
is really no place in the body, therefore, where the 
dead epidermis and dried secretions require removal 
so greatly as on the face, and soap assists greatly in 
the process, besides stimulating the sweat glands to ac- 
tivity, which does more than anything else to keep 
the complexion clear and soft. The medicated soaps, 
from which so much benefit is said to be derived, owe 
their action in large measure to the cleansing and stim- 
ulating effects which any pure soap can furnish as 
well. But it is characteristic of human nature to put 
confidence in whatever is troublesome, unusual, and 
expensive. 

At night the face ought to be washed with water as 
hot as can be borne and a good soap. The washing 
should be kept up for several minutes and the face 
must be dried afterwards with a soft towel. The 
coarse towels, which are so good for the rest of the 
body, are not desirable for the face. If the complex- 
ion is rough or shows a tendency to pimples, it is a 
good plan to hold the face over the steam from a 
basin full of boiling water for five minutes or so. 
In the morning the face should be washed in cold 



210 GIRL AND WOMAN 

water, and soap is not then necessary, if it has been 
used the night before. 

If the complexion is muddy or rough, or has occa- 
sional slight eruptions, careful attention to these direc- 
tions will quite likely relieve the trouble entirely ; if 
not a physician should be consulted, and if possible, a 
skin specialist. The old-fashioned idea that a disor- 
dered skin in young girls should always be left to 
nature, is open to the objection that only a physician 
can say when it may safely be left alone and when 
active treatment is necessary. 

Cosmetics should never be used without a doctor's 
sanction. Many of those on the market contain harm- 
ful ingredients, and even if they are harmless they 
tend to clog the openings of the glands and check 
their activity. The same objections apply to face 
powders though in a less degree. Their regular use 
is to be condemned, but a harmless one may be used 
occasionally, especially in very hot weather, when the 
skin has a tendency to become moist and shiny. The 
best face-powder is one prepared at home from pow- 
dered starch, or rice-powder, or corn-starch, with the 
addition of a little powdered orris-root, if a perfume 
is desired. Talcum powder, however, is quite harm- 
less. 

In old times it was considered a girl's duty to pro- 
tect her face from the sun, the wind, and the rain. 
Now-a-days, the freedom of outdoor life has done 



PERSONAL HYGIENE 211 

away with all such precautions. No doubt this is a 
great advantage, and if girls have lost something in 
the delicacy of their skins, they have gained more 
than its equivalent in health. It may be, nevertheless, 
that we have gone a little too far in the other direc- 
tion. Plenty of fresh air and active exercise can be 
obtained without dispensing with a hat for the entire 
summer. The tanning of a whole season passes off in 
the winter, but the skin is never quite so smooth and 
fine as it was before. Strong, harsh winds in the win- 
ter are very bad for the skin and the face should al- 
ways be protected from them by a veil. 

Hair is a modification of the epidermis. Each in- 
dividual hair consists of a shaft, which is the visible 
part, and a root embedded in the skin. The root lies 
in a little follicle supplied with nerves and blood ves- 
sels, as well as with two little glands, called sebaceous 
glands, the secretion from which keeps the hair smooth 
and supple. The shaft of the hair is circular in shape, 
but sometimes the circle is a little imperfect at differ- 
ent points, owing to a flattening of its surface, just as 
a piece of lead pipe may be flattened and indented at 
intervals. These imperfections of the shaft cause the 
hair to bend easily at the flattened places, producing 
the curl which is so much admired. 

A long, thick suit of hair is a beautiful thing in 
the abstract, but in civilized society it cannot be dis- 
played in its natural state and the length and thick- 



212 GIRL AND WOMAN 

ness upon which its beauty depends make its arrange- 
ment difficult and often clumsy. For practical pur- 
poses hair of moderate length and thickness, which 
grows prettily and can be arranged easily and grace- 
fully, is a much more valuable asset, and the beauty 
of such hair depends largely upon the care taken of it. 
Once in every twenty-four hours, the hair should be 
brushed carefully, in order to remove the dust that 
accumulates in it from the surrounding atmosphere 
and stimulate the sebaceous glands to activity. There 
is a belief among some people that brushing is a bad 
thing because it pulls out the hairs. If the hairs do 
come out under the process of brushing, it is because 
the brush is too stiff, not because there is anything 
injurious in the process itself. Coarse, thick hair 
needs a stiff brush, while for fine, thin hair a soft one 
is much better. Wire brushes are always to be 
avoided, but a bristle brush is, in many people's opin- 
ion, of great service. It takes all the dust out of the 
hair and off the scalp, and stimulates the roots most 
thoroughly. Without brushing the hair can never be 
kept in a really healthy condition, since its healthful- 
ness depends upon the activity of the glands at the 
root, and these require constant stimulation. Rubbing 
the skin at the roots of the hair with the fingers is 
sometimes suggested as a substitute for brushing, but 
it can never really fill the same place, because the 
amount of time required to give the same stimulation 



PERSONAL HYGIENE ■ 213 

by friction with the fingers is more than most people 
can command; moreover, the hairs themselves receive 
no attention from the massage, whereas the brushing 
keeps them clean and smooth. A comb is useful for 
removing tangles and in the arrangement of the hair 
upon the head, but it can never take the place of the 
brush. 

From time to time the hair requires to be washed, 
but no exact rule can be given as to how often. Girls 
who live in the city, where the surrounding atmosphere 
is full of dust and smoke, need to wash their hair 
oftener than those who live in the country, where the 
hair is free from such impurities. The nature of the 
hair itself also enters into the question. Heavy, glossy 
hair requires washing at more frequent intervals than 
that which is dry and brittle. All that can be said 
positively as to the frequency of hair washing is that 
it ought to be at intervals of a week to a month. 

Sometimes it is impossible, for one reason or an- 
other, to wash the hair without risk of taking cold, 
and when this is the case a dry shampoo is useful, 
though it can never take the place of washing and 
shampooing together. To give this kind of shampoo, 
the hair must first be thoroughly brushed, after which 
powdered orris root is rubbed into the roots with the 
tips of the fingers, very slowly and carefully, until the 
whole surface of the head is covered. At the end of 
half an hour the orris root is brushed out and with it 



214 GIRL AND WOMAN 

comes the dust accumulated on the hair or the skin 
of the head. If the hair is harsh and dry it is 
a good plan to make the powder of equal parts of 
orris root and corn-meal. 

Some hair is always thin and rough from a defi- 
ciency of the secretion in the glands at its roots. This 
sort of hair has a tendency to come out ; in fact, when- 
ever hair begins to get thinner it is also rough and 
harsh. The only cure for this state of things is to 
stimulate the sebaceous glands, and one of the best 
means of doing this is brushing. Miss Martineau, the 
authoress, tells us in her autobiography that she en- 
dured much distress and mortification in her youth 
from the thinness and roughness of her hair until an 
aunt suggested that the trouble might arise from the 
fact that she used a comb entirely instead of a brush 
and the suggestion being adopted proved a signal suc- 
cess. If persistent brushing does not stop the hair 
from coming out it is a good plan to get a prescription 
for a hair tonic from a doctor. These tonics are all 
based upon the principle of stimulating the glands and 
contain something which serves that purpose. 

A Japanese physician has recently shown that if a 
hair is examined under the microscope soon after an 
illness it is seen to be thinner along the part of its 
length which corresponds to the duration of the ail- 
ment. When the illness is accompanied by fever all 
the hair on the head generally comes off, because the 



PERSONAL HYGIENE 215 

rise of temperature stops the secretion of the sebaceous 
glands. New hairs, of course, begin to grow as soon 
as the illness is over and the glands recover their 
activity, but all that can be done for the old ones 
is to get rid of them with as little inconvenience as 
possible. Cutting the hair close to the head or even 
shaving the head is much recommended as an effec- 
tual means of securing a new crop, but such a pro- 
ceeding has really no influence at all upon the growth 
of the new hair. Indirectly, cutting the hair is a good 
thing to do, because it is much easier to stimulate 
the roots of the new hairs when the old hair is short 
than when it is long. A girl who is young enough not 
to mind wearing her hair short for a few months had 
much better have it cut as short as possible, and then 
every morning, when she takes her bath, she can wash 
her head and rub it briskly just as a man does. If 
she wants to apply a hair tonic, she can do so much 
more readily and effectively when the hair is short. 
An older girl, who objects to wearing her hair short, 
can let the old hair remain while the new crop is 
growing up without any danger of checking the new 
growth. There will usually be enough left to make a 
presentable appearance until the new hair is grown 
out and can take its place. Shaving the head is al- 
ways a mistake. It gives trouble and inconvenience 
without doing any good to the new hair. 

The teeth as well as the hair are a modification of 



216 GIRL AND WOMAN 

the epidermis. The care of them is of great im- 
portance to health, as well as to personal appearance, 
and girlhood is the time when such care is particu- 
larly needed. Defective teeth cause a great deal of 
pain, interfering with sleep and work. They also 
limit the capacity to masticate food which leads to in- 
digestion and deficient nutrition with consequent im- 
pairment of the general health. An examination of 
the teeth of the children in the public schools at 
Andover, Mass., showed that, taking weight as a 
standard of health, the children with good teeth sur- 
passed the children with bad teeth in weight by an 
average of two and seven-tenths pounds. 

The great cause of decay in teeth is the accumula- 
tion of tiny fragments of food, especially of meat, be- 
tween the teeth and in the irregularities of their sur- 
faces, and the process of decay occurs more frequently 
and proceeds more rapidly in girlhood than in late 
life, so that the care of the teeth at this time of life 
is a matter of special importance. 

In caring for the teeth, the ideal plan, of course, 
is to brush them after each meal, but this method re- 
quires an amount of time, attention and opportunity 
which not many girls can give. They can be kept 
in excellent condition by caring for them twice a day. 

Brushing the teeth with a moderately stiff brush is 
one part of the care to be given them. Some kind 
of wash or powder should be used in brushing, and 



PERSONAL HYGIENE 217 

powders are to be preferred of the two, on account 
of their polishing effect. There are various prepara- 
tions sold by druggists, any one of which will answer 
the purpose, but the ordinary prepared or precipitated 
chalk is as good or better than anything else, beside 
being less expensive. Some antiseptic solution, such 
as listerine, for a mouth-wash, is desirable. 

But a toothbrush, no matter how carefully and thor- 
oughly it is used, cannot get between the teeth, nor into 
all their irregularities, and these places are exactly 
where attention is most needed. Decay of the teeth is 
caused by the action of bacteria, and these find a 
fertile soil for their growth in the fragments of food 
that collect between the teeth or in their, irregularities. 
The only way to remove these fragments and keep 
the interstices clean is to pass something between 
each two teeth at least once in every twenty-four 
hours, preferably at night, because there will then be 
a long interval before food is again taken. A certain 
kind of thread, especially prepared for the purpose, 
called " dental floss," is sold by druggists, but in the 
long run it is rather expensive. A good substitute 
for it can be made by buying some skeins of linen 
thread, cutting them into suitable lengths and waxing 
these with a piece of beeswax. The thread and the 
beeswax must both be perfectly new and clean. 

In addition to the daily care of the teeth they ought 
to be inspected at intervals by a dentist and any de- 



218 GIRL AND WOMAN 

cayed teeth should be filled or extracted. It is most 
important that the teeth should receive proper care 
in this respect during girlhood. Not only is the 
process of decay more frequent and more rapid in 
early life, but the second teeth, which are then just 
come or coming, often require mechanical aid to make 
them straight and even. The size of the jaw is smal- 
ler in these days than it used to be many generations 
ago when mankind ate coarse food and needed more 
strength in the teeth and the jawbone. The number 
of teeth, however, remains the same, so that it begins 
to be something of a difficulty to find room for them 
all in the modern jaw. This difficulty reaches its 
height at about fourteen or fifteen, when the four 
last molars, known as "wisdom teeth," begin to ap- 
pear. Sometimes these teeth come rapidly, almost all 
at once, in other cases they appear one by one and so 
slowly that it is a matter of five or six years before 
they are all in place. But whenever they come, they 
are apt to crowd the other teeth, and it becomes a 
serious question whether some teeth ought not to be 
extracted in order that the others may be more service- 
able and more regular in appearance. No one but a 
dentist can decide upon this matter and it is most 
important that he should treat the teeth while the 
bones of the jaw are still young enough to respond 
easily to whatever measures he may adopt. Later in 
life, when the bones are completely hardened, nothing 



PERSONAL HYGIENE 219 

can be done, for if teeth are then drawn the others 
will not move so as to fill up the space and make 
more room. 

It is very important also that cavities in teeth 
should be filled without loss of time, for they cause 
more or less pain and interfere with a girl's work as 
well as her pleasure. Moreover, the decay proceeds 
so rapidly at this age that unless it is promptly arrested 
the tooth may speedily be past filling and there is 
nothing for it but extraction. A tooth too much de- 
cayed to be filled must be extracted at once, for it 
affords an easy entrance to disease, beside being a 
great source of suffering. 

The expense of dentist's work is sometimes a diffi- 
culty. But the care of the teeth ought to be consid- 
ered in the light of a duty, not a luxury, and other 
demands upon the purse, not absolutely essential, 
should be sacrificed to it. If it is really impossible 
to meet the expense, there is always a way open, at 
any rate to those in large cities, which ought to be 
employed more than it is. The free dental dispen- 
saries offer attention without charge or with only a 
nominal one, and the work there is reliable. It is 
true, of course, that it is done by young dentists or 
students who have not much experience, but they are 
under careful supervision from older men, and there 
is really much less danger of neglect or failure at their 
hands than is often present with an elderly man of 



220 GIRL AND WOMAN 

large experience and reputation who has grown care- 
less with years and success. 

One of the most important points in a girl's toilet, 
or a boy's either, is the care of the hands and nails. 
Even a very ordinary hand can be made attractive if 
it is well cared for and a pretty hand loses all of its 
beauty if it is not. To keep the hands in nice order 
they should be washed every night on going to bed 
with warm water and a good soap, and if they are 
inclined to be rough or chapped, a little glycerine or 
glycerine and water should be rubbed into them while 
the skin is still moist from washing. It is a good plan 
to apply the glycerine after every washing throughout 
the day. There are many preparations of glycerine 
combined with the fancy waters which are reliable and 
agreeable. Sometimes the skin at the ends of the fin- 
gers and the edges of the nails has a tendency to crack 
and peel. The best remedy for this state of things is 
to apply vaseline to the broken places on going to bed 
at night and then draw on a glove finger, or, if neces- 
sary, the whole glove, which must remain in place over 
night. The most obstinate cases can be relieved in 
this way after a few nights. 

The most important point in the care of the hands, 
of course, is the nails. These require to be brushed 
with a stiff nail brush whenever the hands are washed, 
and once in every twenty- four hours they should re- 
ceive special attention. The best time for this is di- 



PERSONAL HYGIENE 221 

rectly after the hands are washed at night. The skin 
around the nail must be pushed back by the tip of the 
finger covered with a soft cloth. This is better than 
using any kind of sharp instrument, for it is not so 
likely to break the skin and cause a " hang nail." The 
systematic care of the hands will almost always pre- 
vent hang-nails, but if one appears it ought to be 
cured as soon as possible, because they afford a good 
opening for infection. A hang-nail must be clipped 
as close to the finger as possible and some sort of oint- 
ment applied, after which a glove finger or a cot 
should be worn over the finger for a day or two until 
it is well. 

The nails should be cut immediately after the hands 
are washed, while they are still soft and pliable and 
the curve of the nail must be carefully preserved in 
cutting them. For this purpose a pair of curved nail 
scissors is almost a necessity, as it is extremely hard 
to keep the curve with a straight pair, even if they are 
small. The length of the nail and the shape of the 
edge are matters of taste, but it is certainly a pity that 
girls who have to put their hands to many uses should 
insist on having their nails as long as many of them do. 

Nails are best cleaned with a little piece of sharpened 
wood, which is much better than the end of scissors 
or a penknife. If there are little rough places on the 
edge of the nail after it is cut, they can be smoothed 
by means of a little bit of sandpaper or fine pumice 



222 GIRL AND WOMAN 

stone. Finally, the nails are polished. It takes some 
little time to put a polish on nails which have never 
been polished before, but when the polish is once 
acquired it does not require much time or effort to 
keep it up. A little nail powder is of assistance in 
getting a polish, but it is not essential; a perfectly sat- 
isfactory polish can be obtained with nothing but the 
polisher and pains. A large heavy polisher is the 
best, but the smaller ones answer very well. Even a 
scrap of chamois leather held over the tip of the finger 
will accomplish the end in view. 

Particular attention should be paid to the feet when 
the daily bath is taken. They require more effort in 
cleansing than any other part of the body, especially 
now that girls wear low shoes, which allow dust and 
dirt to sift through, for so much of the year. Great 
care must be taken to see that the spaces between the 
toes are thoroughly cleansed, for perspiration is pe- 
culiarly apt to collect there. These spaces must also 
be perfectly dry, for moisture in that situation is a 
fruitful source of soft corns. 

The toe-nails, like the finger-nails, should always be 
cut after a warm bath, while they are soft and easy 
to cut. There is a marked difference, however, in the 
cutting of the nails of the toes and the fingers. So 
far from cutting toe-nails with regard to the curve, 
as in the case of the finger-nail, toe-nails ought to be 
cut nearly in a straight line, as a precaution against 



PERSONAL HYGIENE 223 

the condition known as " ingrowing nail," when the 
nail, usually that of the great toe, grows deeply into 
the flesh on one side. It is a most painful affection, 
and if not relieved at once, the area around the nail 
may become inflamed and even suppurate, causing a 
terribly sore foot. If the nail shows any indications 
of growing too deep on one side, a triangular piece 
should be cut out of the middle of the edge, the apex 
of the triangle being towards the root of the nail. 
The two edges of the opening thus made instinctively 
incline towards each other, as the nail grows outward, 
and in their approach the side cutting into the flesh 
is drawn out. 

The present fashion of wearing large and easy 
shoes has done much to overcome the old-fashioned 
torment of corns, which was particularly common 
among young girls because the vanity natural to youth 
led them to wear tight shoes when tight shoes were 
the fashion. Formerly, too, a really well-fitting shoe 
could only be obtained by having it made to order at 
considerable expense. Now it is possible to get fac- 
tory-made shoes which are well-shaped and neatly 
finished. Still, corns are not altogether things of the 
past. 

A corn is nothing more or less than a hardening of 
the epidermis due to pressure of the shoe on one par- 
ticular spot. When a corn is discovered, the shoe 
must be changed, no matter how inconvenient it may 



224 GIRL AND WOMAN 

be to do so. It is foolish to consider expense, for the 
loss of a pair of shoes is a small matter compared to 
the torture of the corn, beside which, if the source 
of irritation is permanently relieved, the corn can 
probably be permanently cured, whereas if the foot is 
obliged to go on enduring the pressure the corn be- 
comes more and more difficult to get rid of. The 
best way to treat a corn is to soak the foot in warm 
water for a considerable time, say half an hour, and 
then peel off as much of the corn as possible. If the 
foot has been well soaked, a considerable amount can 
be removed in this way. After all that is possible has 
been done by peeling, the hard central portion must 
be cut out with a sharp knife, and, finally, a corn 
plaster is put around the cavity from which the corn 
has been cut, and worn until the tender spot has be- 
come normal. 

Soft corns, which form always between the toes, can 
generally be cured by keeping the place around them 
absolutely dry. The best thing for this purpose is 
chalk, either the prepared chalk used for a tooth- 
powder, or a piece of ordinary blackboard chalk, 
ground fine. If the space between the corn and the 
next toe is kept faithfully dusted with the chalk, the 
corn will gradually dry up and rub off. 

If the foot is irritated by the shoe or the stocking 
the cause of irritation must be removed at once. When 
this is done immediately, before the skin is broken, the 



PERSONAL HYGIENE 225 

place will get well without difficulty, but if the irrita- 
tion is allowed to go on until a blister has formed 
(which happens in an incredibly short time) it may be 
weeks before the foot is really well again, for it is 
almost impossible to keep the blister from breaking 
with the formation of a raw surface. If such a raw 
surface does form, the best thing for it is to keep it 
dusted with a powder of the subnitrate of bismuth, a 
few ounces of which can be obtained from any drug- 
gist. A piece of soft old linen or cambric must be 
kept over the powder. 

The care of the eyes is a matter of really vital im- 
portance. No girl, no matter how strong her eyes are 
or appear to be, can afford to neglect the care of them. 
Unfortunately, the effects of want of care do not 
always become immediately apparent, and it is hard 
to induce girls to take proper precautions when they 
feel no present inconvenience or discomfort. 

The bad effects of eyestrain at school and the vari- 
ous ways in which the eye can deviate from normal 
are more suitably considered in connection with the 
question of the school work from which much of the 
eyestrain originates. But this is a good place to say 
a word in regard to the care which a girl herself can 
take of her eyes in daily life. 

The symptoms of eyestrain may be either direct or 
reflex. The direct symptoms vary from a mere sen- 
sation of fatigue and effort, after using the eyes 



226 GIRL AND WOMAN 

steadily for some time, to actual pain with burning, 
itching, and watering. Sometimes the eyes look red 
and irritated, sometimes they have a strained faraway 
look. It may be that in reading the type will run to- 
gether, or certain letters which resemble each other, 
like c and o, cannot always be distinguished. One of 
the earliest signs of eyestrain is a feeling of irritation 
on rising in the morning when the eyes have been 
worked at night for too long a time or by an im- 
perfect light. The sensation of little grains of some 
fine substance under the lids is another sign of strain. 

Of the reflex or indirect symptoms, headache is by 
far the most common. The headache may be a dull 
pain over the eyes or on the top of the head, or it may 
take the form of prostrating attacks of sick headache. 
In any case of constantly recurring headache in young 
girls not attended by failure of the general health an 
oculist ought to be consulted/ The reflex symptoms 
of eyestrain are sometimes quite remote from the eyes. 
Indigestion is not uncommon, and nervous symptoms 
of various kinds are associated with it. Sometimes 
eyestrain is responsible for the most profound depres- 
sion which cannot be accounted for. Cases of melan- 
cholia have been known in young girls which disap- 
peared when the eyes were relieved by proper glasses. 

Whenever there is any reason to think the eyes are 
strained, and whenever there are symptoms, in a girl 
constantly using her eyes, that cannot be accounted 



PERSONAL HYGIENE 227 

for, an oculist should be consulted. I say emphatical- 
ly an oculist, not an optician, because one of the most 
fruitful sources of eye trouble is the consultation of 
opticians instead of persons especially trained in the 
knowledge of the eye. It is a great mistake to think 
that because a man is capable of preparing glasses 
from an oculist's prescription, he is competent to pro- 
nounce upon the condition of the eye itself. A real 
understanding of the eye in health and disease re- 
quires all the resources of a general medical education, 
as well as a special training in the anatomy, physiology, 
and diseases of the eye itself, and no one who does 
not possess this can possibly be fit to undertake eye 
practice. 

In the ordinary daily care of the eyes which rests 
in the hands of their possessor, the first thing to be 
remembered is not to let water touch the eyeball in 
bathing the eyes and not to keep the eyes open under 
water. Some people are in the habit of boasting that 
when they wash their faces in a basin of water they 
keep their eyes open, and nothing worse for the eyes 
could possibly be imagined. 

A sufficiency of light, properly adjusted, is necessary 
to the preservation of eyesight. The direction of the 
light ought always to be from behind over the left 
shoulder. If it comes over the right shoulder the 
right hand casts a shadow that comes between the 
light and the work, and if it is from directly behind, 



228 GIRL AND WOMAN 

the person, to use the common phrase, is " in their 
own light." Light coming from directly in front is 
worst of all, because it dazzles the vision. 

The same rules apply to artificial light, but other 
points must also be considered in its arrangement. 
An ordinary gas-burner, whether it is in a chan- 
delier or a side-fixture, is always unsuited for reading 
or writing, because it flickers incessantly, and the first 
consideration in artificial light is that it should be 
steady. For near work at night there should be some 
kind of shaded droplight, such as the argand burner, 
with the rays falling directly upon the work. One of 
the best possible lights for night work is the old- 
fashioned student lamp used with kerosene oil. It 
has one great advantage over more modern appliances, 
in that it can be used anywhere irrespective of the in- 
troduction of gas or electric light. Of course, some 
of the new conveniences, such as the electric bulbs, 
shaded and arranged to throw the light over the work, 
give as good a light as the student lamp and are free 
from its disadvantages, but there are hosts of places, 
where the newest appliances are out of the question 
and yet night work has to be carried on for the greater 
part of the year. In all cases of this kind nothing 
does as well as the student lamp. The great objection 
to it is that if it is not attended to with the utmost 
care it has a disagreeable odor and sometimes drips 
oil unexpectedly. But this inconvenience can always 



PERSONAL HYGIENE 229 

be prevented by care, and the benefit to eyesight makes 
it worth while to ensure this care by taking the lamp 
under one's own supervision. 

Finally, there is one point in the care of the eyes 
in which girls are peculiarly apt to offend, and that is 
reading through a spotted net veil. The fine lines in 
the mesh of the net are bad enough, but when to these 
are added a number of round spots, the tantalizing ef- 
fect is one of the most harmful things in the world. 
Chiffon veils are also objectionable, because they are 
woven with sufficient closeness to make it a continual 
effort to see through them for anything as close as 
reading. 

Sometimes a foreign body gets into the eye. Such 
bodies are of two kinds : penetrating and non-pene- 
trating. A penetrating foreign body is one which 
has actually penetrated the substance of the eyeball. 
It is always a serious thing and must be brought to 
an oculist without loss of time, since it cannot be 
removed by an unskilled hand. The ordinary non- 
penetrating body, such as a cinder, is easily removed 
and everyone ought to know how to do it for another 
person. It is almost impossible to do it for oneself. 

The lower lid is drawn down by one finger and the 
foreign substance may then become visible at once. 
If it does not, the upper lid must be turned back. To 
do this the patient is told to look downward and the 
edge of the upper lid is taken hold of by the thumb 



230 GIRL AND WOMAN 

and forefinger of the right hand, after which it is 
drawn forward and downward, away from the 
eyeball, and then upward, turning it back over the 
thumb and forefinger of the left hand, which are held 
stationary upon the lid. The foreign body can then 
be seen, if it is there, and removed by a delicate touch 
with the tip of a handkerchief corner or a wisp of 
absorbent cotton. It must always be remembered that 
the irritation set up by the foreign body will not dis- 
appear for a little while after its removal, and some- 
times the sufferer will insist that she knows the irri- 
tating substance is still there, because she continues to 
feel such discomfort. The only thing to be done 
under these circumstances is to wait quietly until the 
irritation set up by the intruder has disappeared. A 
cold compress over the eye will sometimes relieve the 
suffering and help to make the irritation subside. 

The ear consists of three divisions, namely, the ex- 
ternal, the middle, and the internal ear or labyrinth, 
The external ear, which is the part outside of the head 
and the passage leading from it, is the only part 
within our reach and therefore the only part for 
which we can directly care. But the healthy condition 
of the middle and internal ear depends largely upon 
the care bestowed upon the outer part. 

In washing the outer ear, great care must be taken 
not to introduce hard objects of any kind into the 
external opening. The tip of the finger covered by 



PERSONAL HYGIENE 231 

a soft cloth, or one of the little sponges mounted on 
the end of a stick, which are sold by druggists for 
the purpose, are all that should ever be used for 
cleansing purposes. Cleanliness of the external ear 
can be perfectly maintained by either of these meas- 
ures, and the deeper portions can take care of them- 
selves. Clumsy and over-zealous efforts at cleanli- 
ness are sometimes the cause of ear-trouble for which 
no explanation can be found. 

In the passage leading from the outer portion of 
the ear are glands that secrete a thin yellow fluid which 
thickens into paste and accumulates upon the skin lin- 
ing the outer ear. The uppermost cells of the epider- 
mis covering the outer ear are constantly being shed, 
as they are in all other parts of the body, and are 
finally cast off at the exterior with the wax adhering 
to them, their movement outward being assisted by 
the little stiff hairs on the inside of the external ear 
and also by the movements of the jaw. A healthy 
ear ought not to secrete more wax than is needed to 
keep the cast-off cells together and if it is secreted in 
larger quantities than this the ear is not perfectly 
healthy. An aurist, or at all events, a physician ought 
to be consulted for this condition, if it is persistent. 
It will probably be necessary to syringe the ear and 
this should never be done by an unskilled hand. If 
it is impossible for the patient to come to the doctor as 
often as is necessary for this purpose, he should teach 



232 GIRL AND WOMAN 

some members of her family how to use the syringe. 
Under no circumstances should drops be put into the 
ear with the intention of softening the wax and as- 
sisting in its removal. It only makes the wax swell 
up and increases the difficulty. The little sharp in- 
struments known as ear scoops, which are sold for the 
purpose of extracting hardened wax, must never be 
used. A really serious injury to the middle ear may 
be done by them. Occasionally it happens that a 
living insect finds its way into the ear and causes 
intense pain by its movements. A few drops of sweet 
oil or chloroform poured into the ear will kill the 
insect and stop the pain, after which it can be syringed 
out at leisure. 

Sometimes water enters the ear while bathing and 
causes a great deal of discomfort. It can be easily 
disposed of by the following method. Take firm hold 
of the upper part of the external ear with the finger 
and thumb of the hand on the affected side, then in- 
cline the head well over towards that side and stamp 
the corresponding foot violently. After one or two 
efforts the water will trickle out at the external open- 
ings. 

Earache is a common ailment but it may be a most 
serious one. Relief from the pain can usually be 
obtained by means of heat, applied by a hot water bag 
or by pouring water as hot as can be borne into the 
ear and letting it run out again. The old-fashioned 



PERSONAL HYGIENE 233 

Southern custom of applying a hot sweet potato or 
yam was based on a sound scientific principle. Ear- 
ache must never be neglected, and if it is not perma- 
nently relieved in a short time an aurist should be 
consulted. 

A discharge from the external ear is another thing 
which must receive prompt attention. It may be quite 
harmless, and it often is so, but, on the other hand, 
it may be the outward and visible sign of some inflam- 
mation which, if neglected, will result in permanent 
deafness. A great many cases of deafness might have 
been prevented, if the discharge that preceded them 
had received prompt attention, especially after scarlet- 
fever, which is a disease when the ears are often af- 
fected. If a discharge appears in the course of an 
acute disease a specialist ought to be called in at once. 
It is most unwise to think that the discharge is but a 
symptom that will disappear as the disease subsides. 
It will very likely disappear, but by the time it does so 
irreparable mischief may have been done that remains 
behind it. 



CHAPTER IX 

DAILY LIFE DURING SCHOOL DAYS 

Influence of home on health of schoolgirl — Influence of 
school on health — Social life of schoolgirl — Amuse- 
ments — Relations with other sex — Reading. 

The daily life of a girl between twelve and eighteen 
contains most of the claims and interests belonging 
to other stages of existence, in forms adapted to her 
age and intelligence, but there is one respect, and that 
a very important one, in which this period differs from 
any other, namely, the prominence in it of formal edu- 
cation. Fully two-thirds of a girl's waking hours 
during these years are passed in the school room, her 
home life, as well as her outside interests and pleas- 
ures, being subordinated to the claims of her educa- 
tion. There can be no doubt that when the psycholo- 
gists and others interested in the study of girlhood 
have collected sufficient data on the subject of educa- 
tion to justify definite conclusions, we shall see ma- 
terial changes in the school curriculum for girls 
adapted to their mental peculiarities at this period of 
their life, but we are not yet in a position to discuss 
the probable nature of these changes. Our knowledge 
234 



SCHOOL DAYS 235 

of the physical side of girlhood has advanced suffi- 
ciently, however, to throw considerable light on the 
relation between health and education and the question 
of preserving a girl's health during her school life is 
one that we are better fitted to discuss than we were 
before the present interest in adolescence. 

The responsibility for keeping a girl in good phys- 
ical condition during her school life rests with both 
the home and the school, but the home is undoubtedly 
the more directly answerable of the two, for the great 
essentials of food and sleep are under its control. To 
say that a schoolgirl cannot keep up with her studies 
without a plentiful supply of nourishing food would 
seem a mere platitude, were it not that, as a matter 
of fact, not a few girls suffer for want of it, not be- 
cause they do not have enough to eat, but because 
they do not eat what is provided for them. Recent 
investigations into the public schools in some of our 
large cities have shown that many children are habitu- 
ally under-fed, because their parents are too poor to 
feed them properly, but this class of cases does not 
concern us here, since in families where circumstances 
are so poor as this the girls are obliged to leave 
school and go to work by the time they are twelve 
years old. But, strange to say, this difficulty is one 
that exists with girls whose parents are well-to-do, or 
even wealthy. It is a problem that confronts the pri- 
vate, as well as the public schools, and some of the 



236 GIRL AND WOMAN 

most earnest remonstrances in regard to it are pre- 
ferred by teachers in private schools where the pupils 
come from wealthy and luxurious homes. 

No doubt one of the factors in the underfeeding of 
schoolgirls is the deficiency of appetite and fancy for 
unwholesome articles of food which are among the 
characteristic physical disturbances of girlhood; diffi- 
culty in adjusting the schoolgirl's midday meal to the 
hours obligatory on the rest of the family is another 
factor; while a third is the haste and scramble to get 
off in the morning, which interfere with a comfortable 
breakfast. These may seem trifling things, neverthe- 
less, their presence day after day for a period of 
years, at a time when growth is most rapid and the 
nervous system is undergoing the strain that accom- 
panies the establishment of the reproductive function 
is quite enough to account for a great deal of defec- 
tive nutrition. 

Difficulty in arrangement of the midday meal is 
probably the greatest of the three. In the family of 
a working man dinner is over before the High School 
girl gets home, and the dinner put away on a plate and 
saved for her is so dried up and unappetizing, that, 
unless she is to imitate the man in Mr. Howell's novel, 
who took his food in an impersonal manner as if he 
were feeding an engine, she will probably leave most 
of it untouched. Eating by herself, too, is not only 
bad for her digestion, but most discouraging to her 



SCHOOL DAYS 237 

appetite. But the girl in wealthy families often fares 
no better. Her family probably dine late and lunch 
between one and two. When the schoolgirl gets home 
everyone has finished luncheon, and as it is more or 
less a movable feast, it is not considered of enough im- 
portance to make any special effort about it for a 
schoolgirl, so she picks up what she can, and in the 
absence of any supervision, eats only what she fan- 
cies. 

It is from deficiency of breakfast, however, that 
the girl in wealthier homes probably suffers most. 
The social side of such a girl's life is apt to make 
demands that keep her up later than she ought to be, 
so that she oversleeps herself in the morning and has 
no time in which to eat her breakfast. Moreover, 
such a girl's mother, whose time is often much oc- 
cupied in social duties, is frequently late in rising, and 
there is no one to see that the child has her breakfast 
in an orderly manner. Not a few teachers in private 
schools testify that it is a common thing for a girl 
to come to school without any breakfast except a cup 
of coffee hastily swallowed and a roll or scrap of 
toast, eaten with the haste of a Passover Supper. By 
the middle of the morning, of course, she has become 
so tired and languid that her mind wanders, and when 
inquiries are made as to the cause of her inattention 
the facts concerning her breakfast are elicited. It is 
no wonder that as time goes on her digestion fails, 
17 



238 GIRL AND WOMAN 

and she begins to have headaches, and then her par- 
ents, without inquiring into the matter, conclude that 
she is overworked at school. 

All girls who are still growing, whether they make 
a good breakfast or not, ought to have a light luncheon 
during the midday recess at school. But, unfortu- 
nately, when the selection of this lunch is left in the 
girl's hands, it is apt to consist of pie, doughnuts, cake, 
candy, and especially pickles, for which she has the 
craving characteristic of her age. Even if her mother 
supervises the preparation of her lunch basket and she 
is sent off provided with simple and nourishing food, 
she will probably exchange half of it for objection- 
able dainties in another girl's lunch basket, or even 
go out and buy them at some neighboring shop. This 
difficulty has proved such a real and substantial one 
that many schools now provide a lunch in the school 
building where the girls can get a suitable and com- 
fortable meal at small expense. Whenever this plan 
has been adopted, there has been a great improvement 
in the health of the pupils. 

The final responsibility as regards a schoolgirl's 
meals, however, must rest with her mother. It is im- 
possible, of course, that the requirements of other 
members of the family shall be adjusted to the neces- 
sities of one, or even of several schoolgirls, and it may 
seem a great deal to ask of a mother that she shall 
find time in an often over-busy life to give personal 



SCHOOL DAYS 239 

attention to the meals of a girl of fourteen or fif- 
teen, as she would to those of a girl of four or five. 
But if she will make it her business to see that her 
daughter eats a comfortable breakfast in the morn- 
ing, and is provided with a suitable school luncheon 
or the money to buy one; if, which is most important 
of all, she will superintend the putting aside of her 
midday meal and then, whenever it is possible, sit 
with her while she eats it, not forcing her to take the 
food, but beguiling the time so that she disposes of it 
unconsciously and without undue haste, she will do 
more than can be accomplished in any other way to 
keep her daughter in good health while she is at school. 
Next to the question of food, sleep is the most im- 
portant factor in the health of the schoolgirl, indeed 
it is hard to say which of the two is more essential 
to her welfare. Abundance of sleep is peculiarly nec- 
essary in girlhood, especially during its earliest years, 
because the strain upon the nervous system occasioned 
by the development of the reproductive function and 
the establishment of menstruation demands long peri- 
ods of repose from the excitement of external stimuli, 
while the rapidity of bodily growth requires the op- 
portunity of building up tissue. The common custom 
of curtailing the night's rest just as the girl comes 
to this time in her life is most unfortunate. Until 
the period of puberty is over, at any rate, the allow- 
ance of sleep ought not to be lessened. Ten hours is 



240 GIRL AND WOMAN 

considered the proper amount for the later years of 
childhood and ten hours it ought to remain up to fif- 
teen years of age or even longer. This may seem a 
large allowance, but it is no more than is necessary. 
We are apt to think of sleep as a negative state, the 
uses of which are simply to afford rest from the exer- 
tions of the day, so that we do not sufficiently appre- 
ciate that the loss of tissue caused by the day's work 
and emotions is made up in sleep and that this process 
of repair is a positive one, urgently needed at a time 
when mental and physical growth is most rapid and 
the nervous system is undergoing a special strain. 

The important point in a girl's sleep is not the hour 
when she goes to bed, for any amount of time may 
be consumed after that, but the hour when she goes to 
sleep. Fortunately, there is rarely any difficulty about 
her sleeping as soon as she gives herself up to sleep. 
If a girl is in bed and asleep by half-past nine and 
gets up at half -past seven she has had the necessary ten 
hours and this arrangement, or its equivalent, ought 
to be the rule of life for the schoolgirl, except on 
Fridays and Saturdays when she has no school work 
next day. No girl can make a proper toilet in less 
than half an hour and many girls require more, break- 
fast takes, or ought to take, another half hour, and 
this leaves a third, which is not more than enough to 
collect books, put on outdoor wraps, and get to school. 
There are many girls, of course, especially in the pub- 



SCHOOL DAYS 241 

lie schools, whose families breakfast at seven or even 
earlier, and who must get up correspondingly soon; 
but in such cases bedtime ought to be proportionately 
early. Unfortunately, human nature at this time of 
life always inclines a girl to believe that she can 
dress in fifteen minutes, eat her breakfast in ten, and 
still get to school in time, so that forty-five minutes, 
in her opinion, is enough for everything; but to her 
elders it is plain that in such a scheme as this some- 
thing is sacrificed. Either her toilet is not neatly 
made, or she swallows her breakfast whole, or she 
runs all the way to school. 

So far then the home may be held responsible for 
the health of the schoolgirl — it now remains to be 
seen how far the school itself is accountable. There 
is a great deal of talk, and has been for some time, 
as to overwork at school and consequent injury to 
health, but if we look at the matter dispassionately, I 
think we shall see that failure of health in school- 
girls is the result of defects in their home life, such 
as we have just discussed, or else to errors in school 
management other than excess of school work. Good, 
hard, intellectual effort cannot in itself injure the 
health. On the contrary, a certain amount of fatigue 
in school work is only normal and right, for mental 
exertion causing mental fatigue is just as good for 
the mind as bodily exertion leading to physical fatigue 
is good for the body. The presence of normal fatigue 



242 GIRL AND WOMAN 

in school work is a reason for satisfaction rather than 
alarm ; it is only when fatigue exceeds the normal lim- 
its that our anxiety need be aroused. 

Over- fatigue when it exists may be recognized by 
the presence of certain definite signs. A lazy or un- 
conscientious girl may feign fatigue in order to escape 
work, or the self -consciousness that is so marked a 
feature of girlhood, together with the imaginative ten- 
dency that also belongs to it, may lead a perfectly hon- 
est, industrious girl to think herself over-tired and 
consequently unwell because it makes her an object 
of interest and sympathetic attention. Fortunately, 
the presence or absence of the signs of real over-fa- 
tigue is easily determined. A faraway dreamy look 
in the eyes with a tendency to fix them upon vacancy, 
as well as blue lines under them, and twitching of the 
eyelids or of the facial muscles are common indica- 
tions. Others are a drooping of the corners of the 
mouth, lack of coordination of movement, a dull, tone- 
less voice, and failure in habitual self-control. One 
symptom of special importance is the continuance of 
fatigue into the next day; if a schoolgirl gets up in 
the morning with the weariness of the previous day 
still hanging about her, accompanied, perhaps, by a 
sense of dull misery for which she can give no reason, 
she is certainly taxed beyond her powers. Not that 
all these signs are present in any one case, as a rule, 
but one or more of them will always be discernible if 



SCHOOL DAYS 243 

fatigue is really excessive. One thing that should al- 
ways be borne in mind in keeping a watch over the 
strength of a young girl is that she herself is usually 
the last person to find out that she is tired. Not only 
is she anxious to keep up her place in school, and 
unwilling to believe it is an effort, but the more tired 
she is the less is she likely to be conscious of it, for 
it is characteristic of extreme fatigue, especially at this 
age, that the subject of it does not realize her condition 
being, so to speak, anesthetized by her own exhaus- 
tion. 

Whatever changes in the school curriculum for girls 
may result from our increasing knowledge of the 
psychology of the period, one thing above all is de- 
sirable, and that is some modification of the existing 
high pressure and nervous tension. When we con- 
sider the unstable condition of a girl's emotional 
nature at this age, it is plain that constantly recurring 
examinations, competition for class standing, and ef- 
forts towards distinction in the shape of high marks, 
prizes, and other educational badges of merit, must be 
an incessant strain upon her both in mind and body. 
This particular element in the present system of educa- 
tion bears more severely upon a girl than a boy, be- 
cause she responds more rapidly than he to stimulation, 
whether from within or without, and also because she 
is more elated by success and more depressed by fail- 
ure. Moreover, a girl's conscience is usually more 



244 GIRL AND WOMAN 

sensitive than a boy's, in fact it is often morbidly 
acute and will goad her into exertions beyond her 
strength, when a boy in the same circumstances pos- 
sesses a certain doggedness of resistance that makes 
him stop short when he is satisfied he has done all that 
could reasonably be expected of him. Last, but not 
least, a girl suffers under the disadvantage of recurring 
periods of time when her nervous system is under a 
special tension. 

Another point upon which the present school meth- 
ods are dangerous to health is the presence of too 
much preparation work to be done at home, though 
the parents are answerable on this particular count as 
well as the school authorities. Two hours is all that 
ought ever to be spent in study outside of school hours 
as a regular thing though another hour may be al- 
lowed occasionally for special reasons, or, perhaps, 
in the final year. Some people may consider two 
hours a small allowance, but if they will take the 
trouble to analyze the situation they will find it is all 
that the conditions of life will permit. If a girl gets 
out of school at two o'clock, it will be nearly or quite 
three before she gets home and has had something to 
eat. It will, I think, be generally conceded that the 
next three hours ought to be passed in relaxation and 
exercise, and as much as possible in the open air. If 
the schoolgirl comes in at six and the next hour is 
occupied with the evening meal and the preparation 



SCHOOL DAYS 245 

for it, she will have just two hours at her disposal 
for study before she goes upstairs at nine, as she must 
do if she is to be in bed and asleep in half an hour. 
It is evident that any more time spent in study must 
be at the expense of sleep, of recreation, or of outdoor 
exercise. If a girl cannot keep up with her work on 
two hours' preparation, there is something wrong. 
The work itself may possibly be too heavy, but more 
often the reason will be found in defective nutrition, 
want of sufficient sleep, or to a lack of physical or 
mental capacity in the girl herself, a fact which parents 
are naturally slow to admit. 

Every schoolgirl needs to be specially guarded from 
overfatigue during the year of puberty, when men- 
struation is established. One of the greatest defects 
in the present school system is the absence of any 
definite provision for this most important point, and 
it is to be hoped that among the improvements, to 
which we look forward with our advancing knowl- 
edge, may be radical changes along this particular line. 
At present a girl can only be protected by special ad- 
justment of the conditions in her individual case. In 
some instances it is well to take a girl out of school 
altogether for a few months or even a year just at 
this time, so that each period may be more carefully 
watched than is possible while she is in school, but 
this is not by any means always desirable. When 
such a course is necessary, a girl's lessons ought to be 



246 GIRL AND WOMAN 

carefully kept up by private tuition along the lines 
of the school, so that she may be able to go on with 
her class when she returns. Nothing can be worse 
for her than idleness, both physically and mentally. If 
she remains at school, she ought to stay at home for the 
first day or two of each period, or perhaps the whole 
time, until the function is fully established and the 
periods are regular. Parents can always control this 
matter if they choose, and they will find teachers 
ready and even anxious to cooperate with them. It 
is a point indeed when cooperation between the two 
is of great value. If the teacher understands the 
situation she can do a great deal to lighten a girl's 
work and protect her from over-exertion in her hours 
of recreation, but it is only through the mother that 
she can learn when such care is needed. 

Any signs of failure in health in a schoolgirl ought 
to receive instant attention ; and no time should be lost 
in taking measures for her relief. Whether it is nec- 
essary to stop her studies altogether or only to reduce 
them, is a question to be determined after due con- 
sideration in each individual case; but one thing cer- 
tain in all cases, is that something definite must be 
done. It is a fatal mistake to think a girl can be 
kept up to her work by tonics and encouragement, so 
that she will get through somehow. I do not speak 
lightly of interference with a school career especially 
in its later years. It is extremely hard upon a girl's 



SCHOOL DAYS 247 

ambitions to lose her standing, and, it may be, have 
her graduation postponed, and it is not true to say 
that it will make no difference to her in going on fur- 
ther in education or self-support. It may make no 
difference in the end, but it does at the moment, and 
apart from the annoyance of present delay there may 
be inconvenience from additional expense or loss of 
time in beginning to earn money. But these disad- 
vantages, real as they are, should count for nothing 
in comparison with health. They should rather be 
looked upon as the price to be paid for health, which 
is the one thing needful. Moreover, the danger of 
injury to standing in school is often much exaggerated. 
A few months' rest will, in many cases, put a girl 
on her feet and she will find herself at the end of 
the year just where she expected to be, for she will 
be able to work well enough after her rest to accom- 
plish all she had planned, whereas if she struggled on 
under pressure her work would certainly suffer even 
if she did not break down and have to abandon it 
altogether. Furthermore, if the first indications of 
fatigue and failure in health are not attended to, the 
condition will roll up like a snow-ball and may over- 
whelm her in the final year, just when the goal is in 
sight. 

Before leaving the subject of health in the school- 
girl there are one or two points especially associated 
with the physical peculiarities characteristic of that 



248 GIRL AND WOMAN 

period in life which demand a word of notice. The 
disturbances accompanying the growth of bones and 
muscles during the early years of girlhood make the 
question of posture in studying one of great impor- 
tance. This fact was recognized as long ago as the 
time of the philosopher Locke, for he wrote " the 
Pupil should know how to lay the Paper and place the 
Arm and Body to it." Lateral curvature of the spine 
is especially common in schoolgirls, because at this 
time of life when the vertebrae are still largely car- 
tilagenous and yield easily to pressure in any direction 
many hours each day are spent in a sitting posture 
with the body inclined forward and slightly to one 
side in writing. This condition of things is peculiarly 
favorable to curvature, especially as the girl is growing 
so fast that it is hard for her to hold herself erect 
and she slouches from fatigue. To counteract this 
danger she should not only be kept under close ob- 
servation, but her desk must be carefully adjusted at 
the beginning of the year and tested again at the half 
year. If, in spite of attention to these details a girl's 
posture in sitting or standing is habitually awkward, 
she should be examined by a physician with a view to 
ascertaining whether the ungainliness is due simply to 
a careless carriage or to a beginning curvature of the 
spine. In either case a few months of well-regulated 
gymnasium exercises, under the direction of a physi- 
cian, will probably relieve the trouble. 



SCHOOL DAYS 249 

Another defect against which precaution is especial- 
ly important at this time of life is injury to eyesight. 
Inspection of the eyes of school children in different 
cities in this country, as well as in Great Britain and 
Europe, has shown that eye troubles of all kinds in- 
crease noticeably year by year from the primary 
schools onward, until by the time the High School is 
reached, not less than one-third of the pupils have 
defective vision of one kind or another. 

The most common trouble at this age is myopia or 
nearsightedness. In this condition the eyeball is too 
long from before backward and the rays of light, 
which should come to a focus directly upon the retina, 
are focussed a little in front of it. Sometimes, though 
not often, the eye is myopic at birth, because the eye- 
ball is congenitally misshapen, but in the majority of 
cases the shape is injured in early youth from over- 
much use of the eyes. It is a well-known physiolog- 
ical fact that when a part of the body is in active use, 
the blood supply to it, for the time being, is increased, 
and when the eyes are used for many hours of the 
day the circulation in them is necessarily filled all the 
time to its fullest capacity. The result of this constant 
increase of the blood supply to the eyes, at a time when 
the tissues are still young and undeveloped, is to cause 
excessive pressure in the eyeball, under which the coats 
of the eye gradually give way, causing a permanent al- 
teration in the shape of the eyeball. Great watchful- 



250 GIRL AND WOMAN 

ness on the part of parents and teachers is necessary to 
prevent this condition of things and the moment it is 
suspected the amount of near work done by the eyes 
should be lessened and the proper glasses supplied. 

Myopia is by far the most common trouble with 
the eyes of schoolgirls, though not the only one. The 
opposite condition, known as hyperopia, in which the 
eyeball is too short from before backward and the 
rays of light come to a focus behind the retina, is a 
condition that appears almost always with advancing 
years, but it is not common in youth. Astigmatism, 
however, in which the transparent part of the eye, 
known as the cornea, is greater in one meridian than 
the other, is of very frequent occurrence. In addi- 
tion to these defects in the eyeball itself, there is al- 
ways the possibility of straining one of the six tiny 
muscles that move the eye in the socket, or of injuring 
the ciliary muscle in the interior of the eye by which 
it is accommodated to near vision, and with all these 
possibilities in existence, it is plain that no indications 
of eye strain, no matter how slight, should ever be 
overlooked. 

Overstrained eyes are apt to have a dreamy distant 
look, and very often there is twitching, of the eye- 
lids. In some cases one or both of the eyes is 
slightly crossed when the girl is tired, though there 
may be no signs of such a thing at other times. An- 
other sign of eye strain is redness of the eyelids and 



SCHOOL DAYS 251 

a slight discharge, which forms a yellowish crust along 
their margins. Sometimes a girl is observed to rub 
her eyes frequently, and when questioned she will ad- 
mit that she feels as if there were fine grains of sand 
underneath the eyelids. But not infrequently eye- 
strain makes itself felt by symptoms connected with 
parts of the body having no connection whatever with 
the eyes, and whenever a schoolgirl has constantly re- 
curring headaches, indigestion, or some other dis- 
turbance of the general health for which no explana- 
tion can be found, it is wise to have her eyes examined 
by an oculist. In a good many cases the explanation 
of her symptoms will be found in them. 

The social side of a schoolgirl's life is a good deal 
subordinated to the claims of her education, but it is 
of more importance than it is usually supposed to be, 
or rather to put it more accurately, our increasing in- 
terest in girlhood makes us feel all phases of it of more 
significance than was formerly supposed. It is too 
much the custom to leave the social side of a school- 
girl's life to chance and not a few parents who are 
scrupulously careful in everything concerning a daugh- 
ter's education leave her to her own devices as regards 
her outside interests. But the mental and moral pe- 
culiarities of girlhood at this age show themselves 
more markedly in the social than the educational life 
and it is through the social side of a girl's existence 
that they receive their most important training. The 



252 GIRL AND WOMAN 

self-consciousness arising from the first realization of 
her ego, the desire for freedom of action, and the 
craving for new experience and a knowledge of life 
all find an opportunity for manifestation especially in 
social life and through its various phases they re- 
ceive most valuable discipline and training. 

To keep the balance true, so that a girl shall re- 
ceive the full benefit to formation of character from 
social life and at the same time shall not suffer from 
its encroachment upon other claims, is not always 
easy. If she is allowed too much gaiety and amuse- 
ment her education will be neglected, while on the 
other hand if her natural instinct for pleasure is un- 
duly repressed she will become rebellious against the 
authorities who she feels are depriving her of what 
her youth entitles her to enjoy. Again, if she is al- 
lowed to choose her companions without any super- 
vision or restriction she will almost inevitably make 
some undesirable acquaintance and, if, on the contrary, 
her associates are selected for her, she will never learn 
the knowledge of character enabling her to choose 
her company wisely in after life. Of the two ex- 
tremes, too much liberty is probably better than too 
little, because the vital point at this period of life is 
the acquirement of self-reliance and self-control. 

The greatest difficulty in a school girl's amuse- 
ments at the present day is to keep them sufficiently 
simple. Every year sees her pleasures become more 



SCHOOL DAYS 253 

like those of her elders, and with every step taken in 
this direction she loses something of the real enjoy- 
ment that is the right of youth. For girls of four- 
teen or fifteen, formal entertainments such as teas 
and lunches are a mistake. At this age a girl gets no 
real pleasure from them, though the self -consciousness 
of the period may lead her to feel a certain gratifica- 
tion in imitating her elders. Evening entertainments, 
however, with dancing or games, which provide an 
outlet for the high spirits and physical activity of 
youth, are usually the source of real enjoyment, and 
public amusements, such as the theater or concerts, 
not only give pleasure but are a real benefit by culti- 
vating a girl's taste along the best lines and guiding 
her in coming to a decision as to her own special apti- 
tude for accomplishment. And it ought to be gen- 
erally recognized that this time in life, when a girl's 
nature is plastic and her susceptibilities quick and 
keen, is the period when she should be trained in 
those social observances, obligations, and courtesies 
which the French so appropriately call, les petites 
morales. Any little mistakes that a girl makes in so- 
cial shibboleths at this age excite no comment, for 
they are set down to inexperience, whereas a few years 
later, when she goes into society as a woman, the 
same negligences and ignorances may expose her to 
unkind criticism. All evening entertainments, how- 
ever, whatever their nature, ought to be restricted to 



254 GIRL AND WOMAN 

Friday and Saturday evenings, except during the holi- 
days. Nothing, as I have already said, is so essential 
to a girl's health at this age as sleep and no amuse- 
ments should be allowed that shorten her night's rest. 
One most important feature in social life at this age 
is the relation between young girls and boys of the 
same age or a little older. The time of life when 
they can amuse . themselves together on exactly the 
same footing disappears with childhood. With the 
advent of puberty the fundamental difference estab- 
lished by Nature between the sexes asserts itself and 
demands recognition, bringing with it a new social 
relation just as natural in its way as that of childhood, 
but calling for great care and circumspection. The 
outward and visible sign of this different relation be- 
tween the sexes is that girls and boys begin to regard 
each other in an entirely new light. Very few love 
affairs of any real significance, as we saw in a pre- 
vious chapter, develop at this age, for the element of 
passion does not exist before maturity, but the com- 
ing event sometimes casts its shadow before and as 
the emotional susceptibility of the age is very great, 
a sort of prologue to the old, old story is often en- 
acted. At this stage of development it is most import- 
ant that a girl should put confidence in her parents 
and that they should encourage her seeing the right 
kind of acquaintance of the other sex. If a girl 
feels that her parents are glad to further her inter- 



SCHOOL DAYS 255 

course with boys whom they have reason to like and 
respect, she will be willing to give up an acquaintance 
which they disapprove. Moreover, it is through a 
girl's intercourse with the other sex that she receives 
one most valuable part of her social training, namely, 
the knowledge how to accept their attentions gra- 
ciously and also to protect herself against them when 
it is necessary to do so. We teach little children 
that they must be responsive to everyone and accept 
any notice that is taken of them with courtesy, but 
there comes a time when it is just as necessary for a 
girl to learn that attentions on the part of the other 
sex must sometimes be refused or accepted in a quali- 
fied manner, and that she must acquire the art of doing 
so with dignity and firmness but without giving need- 
less offense. Many a girl has been subjected to un- 
kind criticism for allowing the attentions of a boy of 
her own age whose conduct or manners were not all 
they should be, when she was really not at all anxious 
for them and only allowed them because she was not 
sufficiently well trained to know how to rid herself of 
them without actual rudeness. 

The choice of a girl's companions among her own 
sex is a matter of more importance than it is always 
thought to be. A girl of low principle or bad habits 
can do untold harm at this age, especially when she is 
a little the older. Unfortunately the girl who is cal- 
culated to do most harm is not always the girl who is 



256 GIRL AND WOMAN 

most displeasing to parents. If she has smooth man- 
ners and worldly wisdom enough to make her wish 
to stand well with her friend's family she may make 
it her business to deceive them. A girl's character is 
sometimes warped by a companion who seemed to her 
mother a quiet well-behaved girl. 

The physical side of a girl's amusements is a con- 
siderable factor in her health at a time when bodily 
activity is at its greatest and high spirits require an 
abundant outlet. It is worth while to go to some 
trouble and expense to provide girls with amusements, 
either within doors or without, which gratify the 
superabundant energy and activity of the age and pro- 
vide an outlet for nervous restlessness. Without some 
form of physical activity the young, rapidly-growing 
body is uncomfortable and ill at ease, while if the rest- 
lessness and pent-up vitality is allowed to express itself 
without training or supervision it will often lead to 
awkwardness of bearing and rough boisterous actions 
which detract greatly from a girl's physical attrac- 
tiveness. 

The various forms of outdoor exercise suitable for 
girls have been already discussed. Of all indoor ac- 
tive amusements nothing meets the necessities of the 
case so perfectly as dancing. I do not mean what is 
known as round dancing, though this is healthful too 
in its own time and place, but figure, or, as it is some- 
times called, (esthetic dancing. It not only affords an 



SCHOOL DAYS 257 

outlet for the superabundant energy and high animal 
spirits of youth and at the same time gives great en- 
joyment, but it trains certain faculties, especially those 
of coordination in a way that nothing else can do. 
Moreover, the costumes and accessories, demanded in 
the national and fancy dances, appeal strongly to the 
love of dress and adornment so strong at this age. 
Fencing possesses some of the same advantages as a 
form of indoor activity, but it does not afford the 
same outlet for restlessness and pent-up activity. 

Of all sedentary home amusements for girls, the 
most important, of course, is reading. Very few- 
girls fail to care for reading altogether, though the 
majority of them do not enjoy anything but fiction. 
Investigations recently made into the choice of read- 
ing among young girls show that although it is not 
vicious, on the contrary, there is every reason for 
satisfaction on this score, it is extremely trivial and 
inferior. There are several factors at work in this 
want of literary taste among girls, but in all probabil- 
ity the most important is the fact that their minds 
are stultified by the mass of so-called literature for 
children provided to-day. Up to a generation ago 
the number of books written expressly for children 
was limited, and a little girl who had a taste for read- 
ing was forced to gratify it by books written for her 
elders. This brought her into contact with really 
good literature from her earliest childhood and her 



258 GIRL AND WOMAN 

literary taste was insensibly trained along the best 
lines, so that by the time she reached girlhood she 
found no pleasure in what was inferior. But to-day 
children all over the world are suffering from a curse 
in the guise of a blessing in the multitude of books 
and magazines written expressly for them, and a little 
girl, supplied from the time she can read at all with 
any number of books of this class, is affected ulti- 
mately in one of two ways. If she has little or no in- 
tellectual capacity, her mind will become completely 
dwarfed, so that by the time she reaches girlhood she 
is unable to care for anything of a higher calibre than 
the Pansy books. If, on the other hand, she chances 
to be a child of really good mind, she will turn in- 
stinctively from what is vapid and commonplace, but 
her inherent taste for interest. and force will find grati- 
fication only in what is highly spiced and exciting as, 
for instance, the novels of Marie Corelli. Literary 
merit of any other kind will have no meaning for 
her. For, in considering the reading of young girls, 
it must always be borne in mind that the excess of 
emotion characteristic of this age, with the desire for 
new experience, and the awakening feeling for the 
other sex, necessarily creates a craving for love 
stories ; and provided the story is an innocent one, 
where the course of true love after the usual vicissi- 
tudes ends in marrying and living happily ever after, 
such stories are in no way harmful. 



SCHOOL DAYS 259 

If a girl's taste in reading is to be what it should 
be, it is necessary to begin to form it a long time be- 
fore girlhood. When the mind has been restricted 
and the taste injured by being fed on nothing but the 
popular children's literature, it will be a long time be- 
fore she learns to enjoy what is really good in litera- 
ture, if indeed she ever does. Yet we cannot, ob- 
viously, go back to the conditions of half a century 
ago, when a little girl who wanted to read had noth- 
ing but good standard works. All that we can do is 
to keep the supply of children's books as low and as 
select as possible, and offer every encouragement to 
reading more desirable ones. Some of the best 
schools for girls are making an effort to cultivate their 
taste in reading by giving lists of books, especially 
fiction, which they are advised to read in the summer 
holidays, but no one can do so much in this way as the 
parents, if they only realize the necessity for effort on 
their part. How little they do understand it is well 
illustrated by a story told by someone recently writ- 
ing on the subject of girls' reading. A schoolgirl, in 
some paper sent up to her teacher, had spoken most 
enthusiastically of a certain lurid and sensational story 
by a popular authoress, and her teacher recognizing 
the evils of that style of literature, wrote upon the 
margin of her paper on returning it, " not suitable," 
to which the girl's father wrote in reply, " why on 
earth not? " 



26o GIRL AND WOMAN 

The only point in regard to which average parents 
seem to be concerned in their daughters' reading is 
the possibility of their acquiring what they consider 
an over-early knowledge of good and evil. But this 
is a matter in which it is necessary to discriminate. 
As long as we have to do with actual childhood, 
there is no reason for apprehending any danger of 
this kind. Incidents and situations associated with 
sorrow and sin are full of terrible significance to 
mature readers, because their own knowledge of life 
supplies them with a key by which to interpret them, 
but they have no meaning for a child whose mind 
contains no means of interpretation. A middle-aged 
woman whose reading in childhood had been perfectly 
unrestricted, once told me that she remembered some 
relatives remonstrating with her mother for allowing 
her to read " Vanity Fair " when she was only ten 
years old ; and in after years she was moved to try and 
recall as vividly as she could what had been her un- 
derstanding of the book at this time and especially of 
the relations between Becky Sharp and Lord Steyne. 
She remembered, she said, that she imagined Lord 
Steyne to be an old and valued family friend, to whom 
Rawdon as well as his wife was attached, and Raw-' 1 
don's quarrel with him appeared to her the most 
natural thing in the world, since he had been left in 
prison when Becky had plenty of money to get him 
out and Lord Steyne, having given it to her, knew that 



SCHOOL DAYS 261 

she had it. The real nature of their relations never 
entered her mind because no path had been opened by 
which it could enter. This little story seems to me 
to show the real facts in this matter, namely, that 
children cannot get a knowledge of evil from reading 
about what they are incapable of understanding. 

But when a girl emerges from childhood, the ques- 
tion assumes a different aspect. Puberty brings with 
it a natural curiosity in regard to sexual things, as 
well as more or less knowledge in regard to them, 
therefore many things whose meaning was completely 
hidden up to this time, are now to some extent under- 
stood. Moreover, in those cases where parents pursue 
the policy of absolute reticence as regards sexual mat- 
ters, a girl will often seek for light upon the subject 
in the books she reads. It would not be either just or 
kind to say that only a girl with a naturally vulgar 
mind will do this. The attitude of inquiry into the 
questions of sex is as natural as the attitude of in- 
quiry into any other aspect of life; it is the parents 
who are at fault for failing to deal frankly with a 
girl on such subjects. 

For these reasons, much more care is necessary in 
regard to a young girl's reading than a child's. The 
important thing in this matter, as in all matters in- 
volving the question of sex, is that the relation be- 
tween a girl and her mother shall be of such a nature 
that she will seek the explanation of things half un- 



262 GIRL AND WOMAN 

derstood from the legitimate source and thus learn 
the right way of regarding them. A girl must find 
out as she grows older that marriage is not always 
sacred nor girlhood always innocent, and if when these 
things are suggested to her through the medium of 
books she is able to discuss them frankly with her 
mother or some older woman who will teach her the 
right point of view in such things, she will acquire 
good principles in regard to them for use in later life. 
If it should be thought that the question of a girl's 
reading occupies rather a disproportionate space in 
this chapter, I must plead that of all a girl's amuse- 
ments reading is the most important. Other forms 
of girlish enjoyment are more or less transitory in 
their effects. But reading has a permanent influence 
upon mind and character which entitles it to special 
consideration. Upon the nature of a girl's reading 
both in childhood and girlhood will depend not only 
the formation of her literary taste, but what is far 
more important, much of her attitude towards life 
and the views and opinions by which she guides her 
own actions. The school girl's reading, therefore, is 
a most important factor in her ultimate welfare. 



CHAPTER X 

DAILY LIFE ON LEAVING SCHOOL 

Home life on leaving school — College life — Self-support 
— Dress. 

The years between eighteen and twenty or twenty- 
one, when a girl has left school and begun life, as it 
were, on her own account, are much more diversified 
as regards occupation than was the case a generation 
ago when she married a year or two after the close of 
her school education. In those times her sojourn at 
home appeared to her in the light of an interlude be- 
tween two acts in the drama of life to be filled up as 
pleasantly as might be. Now-a-days, when marriage 
before twenty-five is exceptional, a girl on leaving 
school plans her life on the supposition that ten or, 
it may be, fifteen years lie before her in which 
to pursue some kind of definite occupation before she 
marries and goes to a home of her own. Three roads 
of which she may make choice lie before her: She 
may live at home and fill up her time with household 
duties, social obligations, and philanthropic work; she 
may carry her education farther by going to college or 
263 



264 GIRL AND WOMAN 

some technical institution; or, finally, she may assume 
the burden of her own support. 

Whichever of the three ways a girl determines to 
follow, she must pass through a certain phase of her 
own development during the time between eighteen 
and twenty or twenty-one. Her physical growth is 
complete, her reproductive system is established, and 
the chief feature of these later years of girlhood is 
the evolution of her intellectual faculties which have, 
so far, been behind the emotional ones. This is the 
time in life when she begins to think, to feel, to judge, 
and to act independently. The desire for freedom of 
mind and body, which is the chief moral characteristic 
of this period, impels her to follow new lines of 
thought and action, but, as impetuosity is also a marked 
feature of it, she will probably make many mistakes 
and have to bear the brunt of numerous imprudences. 
At this stage of her career, however, the kindest thing 
that can be done for a girl is to let her alone until she 
has found her bearings, standing ready to give her a 
helping hand, if necessary, but not forcing it upon 
her without due reason. If her training in childhood 
and early girlhood has been what it ought to be, 
she will be secure from gross errors of conduct, and 
this being so, she will learn more from her own mis- 
takes and follies than in any other way. 

For the girl who decides to spend the first years 
after leaving home in her own domestic circle, her 



LIFE ON LEAVING SCHOOL 265 

life at home is sometimes a trying one. During a 
number of years her time has all been regulated to 
meet the requirements of a great educational system, 
and when there comes an abrupt and definite change 
it is often as hard for her to accommodate herself 
to the new order of things as for an animal brought 
up in captivity to adapt itself to sudden freedom. 
Things are made all the harder for her, because she 
herself does not understand the cause of her restless- 
ness and discomfort and in many cases her family and 
friends are no more able to account for them than 
she. The possession of some definite talent or even 
some marked inclination is a great blessing to a girl 
under the altered conditions of her life at this time. 
She has then a little claim of her own, so to speak, 
staked out for her to cultivate, the existence of which 
provides her with a fixed point of interest around 
which her life will gradually arrange itself. It often 
serves also to obviate possible friction as regards the 
question of outside claims upon her time, for even the 
most old-fashioned parent recognizes the evil of keep- 
ing a talent in a napkin. The girl who is not so fortu- 
nate as to have an absorbing occupation ready for 
her when she is first thrown upon her own resources 
in the arrangement of her time, had better select some 
congenial pursuit and follow it up. 

The class of girls who make a business of society is 
such a small one that it is not worth while to con- 



266 GIRL AND WOMAN 

sider it here, but every girl should have her share of 
gaiety and pleasure at this period of her life, for this 
is the time when Nature intended she should have it. 
The old saying that we are young but once is none 
the less true for being hackneyed, and like many an- 
other wise old saw, the grounds of its wisdom become 
clearer to us as we understand the psychology of 
human nature more fully. At this age the awkward- 
ness, shyness, and morbid self -consciousness of early 
girlhood have to a large extent passed away, leaving 
animal spirits and the joy in living for its own sake to 
assert themselves with an intensity which does not be- 
long to any other period of life. To deny a girl the 
enjoyment of such pleasures as come naturally in her 
way is doing her a great injustice and those in charge 
of her ought to be ready to take some little trouble 
and make some little effort in order to secure them for 
her. 

Thirty years ago the girl who went to college was 
an exceptional being whom her friends and acquaint- 
ances regarded with mingled admiration and disap- 
proval ; now a college education for women is so com- 
mon that the question whether a girl shall or shall not 
go to college comes up for discussion in every instance, 
if only to be answered in the negative. For those 
who hesitate in regard to sending a daughter to col- 
lege for fear of injury to her health, there is every 
assurance, if they will look into the matter, that such 



LIFE ON LEAVING SCHOOL 267 

anxiety is unfounded. The majority of girls leave 
college at the expiration of their college course in ex- 
cellent physical condition, and, although there is a 
small minority who are out of health on graduation or 
break down before reaching it, the failure in their 
health, like the failure in health of school girls, is due 
to other reasons than over-exertion at work required 
by the college. 

The physical conditions of a girl's life while at col- 
lege are everything that could be desired, in fact there 
is no time in a girl's life when her physical necessi- 
ties receive such attention. The difficulties in the 
school girl's life arising from conflict between her ne- 
cessities and those of other members of the family do 
not exist at college where everything in the student's 
life is arranged to suit her comfort and convenience in 
the first instance. Meal hours are adjusted to lecture 
hours, outdoor exercise and gymnasium work cannot 
be neglected without attracting the attention of the 
authorities, and recreations are so regulated by the 
rules of the college that except on Fridays and Satur- 
days the college girl has no temptation to sit up after 
ten o'clock. Certain complaints reach the public from 
time to time as to the quality, quantity, and service of 
the food, but all investigations into the matter have 
shown that there is no reasonable grounds for com- 
plaint. The only fault that can ever be justifiably 
found is the absence of variety and it is not clear how 



268 GIRL AND WOMAN 

far even this can be supported. How far girls injure 
their digestions by five o'clock teas is another matter, 
but one thing is certain, and that is they have far too 
strong a hold to be abandoned. 

The only channel through which injury to health 
in college can occur is over-exertion caused by un- 
dertaking some pursuit outside of college work or by 
neglect of proper rest and relaxation. The amount 
of work required of a girl at college is calculated for 
the strength of an average girl of eighteen to twenty- 
two or three, on the assumption that she makes it her 
sole object, and if she spends her strength on some- 
thing outside of it, it is plain that either she or the 
work must suffer. Any kind of exertion distinct 
from college requirements, therefore, constitutes an 
element of risk to health, though it does not, of course, 
always result in definite injury. 

Of the various ways in which a college girl's 
strength can be over-taxed, the most serious is extra 
work occasioned by passing off conditions incurred on 
entrance. A girl of average intellectual ability ought 
to be able to enter college unhampered by conditions, 
provided her school training has been thorough, 
but unfortunately not by any means all schools 
are thorough, and many a girl who supposes her- 
self ready for college fails to pass one or more of 
the examinations for entrance. The girl who fails in 
several different branches and fails badly is really for- 



LIFE ON LEAVING SCHOOL 269 

tunate, if she would but believe it, for then it is im- 
possible for her to enter and she must either give up 
the idea altogether or make up her mind to spend con- 
siderable time and possibly considerable money in ad- 
ditional study. But if the failure is in only a few 
branches, the student is allowed to enter on condi- 
tion that she passes the examinations on the subjects in 
which she failed within a specified time. Now if a 
girl begins her college work with a burden upon her 
shoulders like the old Man of the Sea, the time out- 
side of her regular work, which should be re- 
served for rest and recreation, must be spent in 
working at her conditions and consequently by the 
time they are disposed of, she is so much over-tired 
that the over-fatigue remains with her all through col- 
lege. The responsibility for this particular danger to 
a college girl's health must rest between her parents 
and the college authorities. The colleges claim that 
they recognize the evil and do their best to counter- 
act it by restricting the number of conditions allowed 
,and by insisting that they shall be passed off before a 
girl has gone far in her college career, but there is a 
great deal still remaining for them to do. One condi- 
tion is all that should be allowed in the ordinary case, 
though there ought, of course, to be a discretionary 
power in exceptional ones. But parents have it in 
their power to control the whole situation by refusing 

to allow their daughter to go to college at all until she 
19 



270 GIRL AND WOMAN 

can enter without conditions altogether. If they 
would only do this whenever it is possible, they would 
accomplish more to protect the health of the college 
girl than can be done in any other way. I say when- 
ever possible, because there are, of course, some cases 
in which the reasons for entering college without loss 
of time are so strong as to over-power the risk in- 
curred and others where the risk is less than usual. 
If, for instance, a girl is over the usual age on en- 
trance, the loss of time spent in further preparation is 
more serious and the danger to health from extra 
work less so than in the ordinary case, since a woman 
of, say twenty-five, can stand the consequent strain 
much better than a girl of eighteen, whose physical 
and mental powers are still immature. But it is the 
girl of eighteen whom we are considering at present, 
and her reasons for wishing to get into college immedi- 
ately are usually that she wants to enter with a particu- 
lar set of girls with whom she is intimate or that she 
does not like to have it known that she has failed, 
which it will be if she does not go at the expected time. 
Necessity for contribution to self-support while in 
college is another element in over-fatigue and conse- 
quent failure of health. The health statistics of 
women's colleges where this sort of thing is most com- 
mon show that girls do not break down from this 
cause as often as might be expected, probably because 
the work done for self-support is often of an unintel- 



LIFE ON LEAVING SCHOOL 271 

lectual nature. If a girl must do something to- 
wards her own expenses, she will be wise to choose 
some of the numerous miscellaneous jobs along the 
domestic lines rather than tutoring. Another thing 
that is an absolute necessity to the health of the self- 
supporting college girl is some amount of uninter- 
rupted summer vacation. A strong vigorous girl does 
not require the whole three to four months holiday, 
but she ought to have at least three weeks of it, and, 
if possible, it should be just before college re-opens. 

Another possible factor in over-fatigue is the effort 
to keep up a social life outside of the college. The 
student who does this steadily for any length of time 
will surely fall between the two stools in the end. 
Parents are often to blame (quite innocently) for this 
mistake. If they live near enough to the college for 
such a thing to be possible, they will urge and even 
insist that their daughter shall come home every Fri- 
day till Monday and then, when she does so, they are 
hurt or displeased if she does not enter into every- 
thing that is going on there. Still another error into 
which parents, and especially mothers are prone to 
fall is urging a girl to exertions beyond her strength 
because her mother believes she has more ability than 
is really the case. The girl herself does not often 
make this mistake. She may come to college with 
too good an opinion of herself, but it does not take 
her long to find her own level and she usually accepts 



272 GIRL AND WOMAN 

it with philosophy, seeing many another in like con- 
dition. But if her mother persists in believing that 
she is the cleverest girl in her class and has only to 
exert herself to prove it, she may be driven to make 
exertions beyond her strength or to curtail her sleep 
and exercise, not because she hopes to fulfill her 
mother's ambitions, but because she cannot bear to 
be thought to fail in doing her best. 

It cannot be too often insisted that pressure just at 
this age, whether it be direct or indirect, is peculiarly 
dangerous, because although the emotional side of a 
girl's nature is less markedly in excess than was the 
case a few years before, it is still somewhat unstable, 
nor is the morbid conscientiousness of early girlhood 
always wholly outgrown, consequently she is quite 
likely to respond to stimulation too ardently for her 
own good. A boy will not yield to pressure from 
without when he thinks it unreasonable, but a girl 
gives way much more readily and often too much so 
for her own good. Again, a boy feels failure or the 
dread of it less intensely than a girl, partly because 
he is naturally less sensitive and partly because col 
lege education in his case is not an experiment fo*. 
the success of which he feels himself responsible. 

But the point of greatest importance in the preserva- 
tion of the college girl's health is the necessity for fa- 
voring her strength at regular periodical intervals. 
The course of study at college was originally planned 



LIFE ON LEAVING SCHOOL 273 

With a view to the physical necessities of boys and it 
has been adopted ready made for girls without any 
regard to the fundamental differences between the 
sexes. A boy's health and strength is the same all 
through his college work except for such occasional 
interruptions as may arise from an accident at foot- 
ball or an attack of tonsillitis. But a girl must con- 
tend not only with such interruptions as these, but with 
regularly recurring intervals when her nervous sys- 
tem is under special tension for the time being and 
therefore her work makes a little additional demand 
upon her strength. A woman physician, with a large 
experience among college girls, tells me that she con- 
siders it would be fair to estimate the proportion of 
her time that the average girl is under a disadvantage 
from this reason as about one-fifth of the whole. 
During one-fifth of her time, then, the average col- 
lege girl must do her work under slightly greater ten- 
sion than usual and make slightly more demands upon 
her strength in doing it. And if she goes on steadily 
year after year working under additional pressure for 
a definite proportion of her time, without making any 
effort to save her strength at such times, her nervous 
system will gradually feel the effects of her efforts and 
manifest it by severe periodical suffering or else 
by symptoms of general nervous exhaustion. The 
connection between this exhaustion, in her final 
year, perhaps, and the neglect of periodical pre- 



274 GIRL AND WOMAN 

caution in the years preceding, however, is not gener- 
ally suspected ; on the contrary, her extreme fatigue on 
graduation is at once set down to over-work in the 
college courses, thereby strengthening the hands of 
those who wish to prove that women are not physically 
equal to the strain of a college education. 

The presence of this fundamental difference be- 
tween the sexes and its influence upon a girl's nervous 
system is the main reason why all work over and above 
the legitimate claims of college courses is more dan- 
gerous — other things equal — for a girl than for a 
boy, whether the additional work is in the form of 
conditions, of self-support, of outside distractions, or 
anything else whatever. No doubt many college girls 
do take reasonable precautions for saving their 
strength when it is necessary; the health statistics at 
the different institutions would not otherwise be so 
good as they are. But there is a growing inclination to 
regard periodical precautionary measures as a work of 
supererogation, and if this indifference should increase 
to any extent, the health of college girls as a whole 
will certainly depreciate. It is with the intention of 
calling attention to this danger that so much emphasis 
is laid upon the subject here. 

Before concluding the subject of college education 
for girls it is worth while to say a word as to the girl 
whose health is constitutionally delicate, but who 
wishes, nevertheless, to have a college training. Some 



LIFE ON LEAVING SCHOOL 275 

good authorities hold that such a girl ought not to 
be allowed to make the attempt at all, but this seems 
an extreme view. If a delicate girl is willing to accept 
the fact of her disabilities and shape her course ac- 
cordingly, there is no reason why she should not go 
through college. It is not worth while, for her to 
think of such a thing unless her means are sufficient 
to carry her through college without any exertions on 
her part and they should also be sufficient to keep her 
there longer than the usual time, if necessary. For 
the crux of the situation is this — the delicate girl 
must make up her mind that she must arrange to do 
rather less than the customary amount of work each 
year. Therefore, if she leaves college with the class 
to which she belongs, she will have to do so without 
taking her degree; or if she wants to complete the 
whole course and take her degree, she must stay on by 
herself after her companions have gone, like the crip- 
pled child left behind by the Pied Piper of Hamelin, 
until the whole amount of work is finished. A yet 
more excellent way is to carry her studies so far be- 
fore she enters that she will have less than the regular 
amount of work to do for her degree and can complete 
what is necessary in four years and graduate with her 
class. But for a naturally delicate girl to come to 
college without entering some caveat as to the amount 
of work she undertakes each year is almost certain 
to end in disaster. 



276 GIRL AND WOMAN 

For the young girl who must support herself, either 
wholly or in part, immediately on leaving school, 
health is the most valuable part of her stock in trade. 
Such being the case it is not only her duty but her 
interest to preserve it. The general laws of health 
as regards food, sleep, out-door exercise and so forth, 
cannot be disregarded by the self-supporting girl with 
impunity. It is worth her while, in particular, to 
make a great effort to provide herself with proper 
food, and as this is a point where girls are apt to be 
singularly neglectful it is one reason why they fail 
in health so much sooner than boys. If the working 
girl lives at home she sometimes has to contend with 
some of the difficulties that beset the school girl, but 
she can better understand the importance of contend- 
ing with them. Too often, however, the working girl 
who supports herself lives in a boarding house, where 
she pays a great deal for food she does not want and 
goes without much that she ought to have. Some- 
times she thinks to solve this difficulty by getting her 
own meals, but this is a great mistake, for it is a tax 
upon her time and strength, and sooner or later she 
will almost surely yield to the temptation to go without 
food just when she needs it most. With many young 
girls fatigue causes a distaste for food instead of an 
appetite for it, and it is almost too much to expect that 
a girl of eighteen or twenty will have sufficient under- 
standing of the situation and enough force of will 



LIFE ON LEAVING SCHOOL 277 

to prepare food for herself when she is so tired that 
she feels almost a disgust for it. 

Sleep is fortunately not often a difficulty at the 
age which we are now discussing, but the girl who has 
only one little room in which to spend her evenings and 
also to sleep must be very careful to see that it is 
ventilated before she goes to bed. Open air exercise 
ought to be a binding duty to the self-supporting girl, 
just as much as her daily toilet, and unless she lives 
very far indeed from her place of work she ought to 
walk at least one way. Her natural impulse is to walk 
in the morning when she feels fresh and take a car in 
the afternoon when she is tired with the day's work, 
but it is better for her health to do exactly the oppo- 
site, for she needs the active exercise in the open air 
and the change of scene when she has been all day 
in a close, over-heated room. 

Amusement of some kind is a vital necessity in the 
life of the self-supporting girl especially when she be- 
gins as early as eighteen or twenty or even younger. 
No girl as young as this ought to be thrown into the 
world to live with strangers, but as things are at pres- 
ent it is often unavoidable and the best thing that can 
be done for her is to guard her as well as pos- 
sible. It is a great thing for such a girl if 
she is fond of reading, though she will hardly 
ever want anything more of a book than that it should 
be sufficiently entertaining to relieve her weariness. 



278 GIRL AND WOMAN 

Anyone who is interested in a young girl at this time 
in her life and under these conditions can do nothing 
kinder for her than teach her to like good fiction and 
otherwise train her taste in reading. I do not mean 
making an attempt to elevate her intellectually by giv- 
ing her Pater and Emerson, but introducing her to 
good novels, taking the most exciting first and so 
leading up to others with more robust literary merit. 
Nothing can be worse for her than the continual read- 
ing of the inferior kind of romance, which has no re- 
deeming quality but superficial interest and excitement, 
for in the long run it will enervate her mind as surely 
as sitting in an over-heated room will exhaust her 
bodily vitality. The effect of an older and more culti- 
vated mind upon a young girl in this respect is often 
very great. Indeed this is only one of many ways in 
which an older woman can do good to a young girl 
beginning life on her own account, and such a girl often 
stands greatly in need of help, though she herself is 
probably the last person to be aware of it. The in- 
stinct for friendship with members of her own sex 
somewhat older than herself is characteristic of the 
age, as we have seen before, and the influence of a 
woman of the right kind in a young girl's duties and 
pleasures is one of the best things life can bestow 
upon her. 

A girl who works all day in monotonous surround- 
ings is always the better for occasional outside amuse- 



LIFE ON LEAVING SCHOOL 279 

ment, for it takes her out of herself in a way nothing 
else can do. If she likes tennis, or golf, or gym- 
nasium exercise, or dancing, it is worth her while to 
take some trouble to enjoy them or to spend a little 
money upon them. An occasional evening at the thea- 
ter does some girls more good than anything else. 
The only objection to the latter form of amusement or 
to any other public entertainment is that a girl usually 
goes to it with an escort of the other sex, and while 
there is no' harm in her doing so per se, a great 
deal of harm sometimes grows out of it. Much 
care ought to be exercised in the choice of an escort 
and also in a girl's own conduct while with him. This 
is the age when the possibility of a real love affair be- 
gins and many a girl's head is turned by the suggestion 
of such a thing. 

A girl will do well to remember that other men are 
better judges of her young men acquaintance than 
she can be, and if her father and brothers or, if she 
lives away from home, her older men friends or rela- 
tives, tell her a youth is not a suitable companion for 
her, at any rate at public places, she had better think 
twice before she refuses to listen. She is courting dis- 
aster if she persists in keeping up an acquaintance 
with a young man of doubtful character. The excuse 
sometimes made by girls for maintaining an acquaint- 
ance or even intimacy with some young man against 
whom they have been warned, and whom they them- 



280 GIRL AND WOMAN 

selves admit is not steady, that they hope to influence 
him for his own good, is wholly fallacious. Such in- 
fluence is hardly ever successful, and when it is, it 
must come from an older or else a married woman, 
where no question of a love affair can arise. When a 
young man advances this argument to persuade a 
young girl to keep up an intimacy with him against 
her judgment, she may be pretty sure he is using it 
as a blind. 

Granting that the escort is all that he ought to be, a 
girl still needs to be very careful as to the choice of 
entertainments to which she accompanies him, as well 
as to her own arrangements in doing so. If she re- 
spects herself, she will not go to see any play with a 
young man unless she knows that it is free from in- 
delicate situations and vulgar language. The present 
fashion of plays dealing in situations of a more or less 
immoral character is a most objectionable one, and a 
girl who respects herself ought never to go with a 
young man to see a play which she cannot discuss with 
him afterward. Dancing with men at public enter- 
tainments is another point where a girl needs to be 
especially careful, and she should never dance with 
anyone of whom she has reason to disapprove, even 
if her disapproval has no farther basis than lack of 
refinement. 

Finally, one thing that the self-respecting girl living 
alone must never allow herself to do, is to invite an 



LIFE ON LEAVING SCHOOL 281 

escort to come in when he brings her home after some 
evening entertainment. Even if she has the use of a 
sitting room, it is too late at night and exposes her to 
comment from other people in the house, while if she 
has not a sitting room of her own, she should never 
even think of such a thing. This matter of the recep- 
tion of visitors of the other sex is one of the reasons 
why a young girl of eighteen or twenty who is working 
for herself, ought not to live away from home, or at 
any rate from relatives, if it can be helped. It is only 
right that she should like to have companions of the 
other sex; it is the natural instinct of her age, but 
away from her own family it is almost impossible to 
make suitable arrangements. No matter how dis- 
guised a bedroom may be, nor how long her acquaint- 
ance with a young man may have existed, she must 
consider it impossible to take him up to it, and she may 
be quite sure of one thing, which is that if a young 
man is what he ought to be, he will respect her for 
being careful, even if she carries it to a point that 
other girls may call strait-laced. 

The question of vacation is one of great moment to 
the girl who works hard all the rest of the year, indeed 
it is often the event of it. The girl who teaches, and 
has a long holiday of three to four months, may find 
it possible to do a little work in the way of self -im- 
provement during the summer holidays but no one 
whose holidays are less than a month ought ever to 



282 GIRL AND WOMAN 

think of such a thing. A vacation taken alone is 
rarely good for any girl because the mind is not suf- 
ficiently taken out of itself. When a girl is so tired 
that she does not want the companionship of even 
one congenial friend she needs to spend her vacation in 
a sanitorium. But the choice of a companion is a 
serious thing and one in which it behooves a girl to 
exercise great discretion and, if necessary, self-asser- 
tion in refusing to accept an undesirable one. 

The next important thing in a vacation is not to take 
it too seriously. This is the time of life when girls 
take themselves seriously in everything, and not a few 
of them are so possessed with the idea that they must 
make the most of a vacation, that they take it so hard 
as to neutralize the benefit of it. The idea that 
physical labor is a rest from mental labor and vice 
versa is true up to a certain point, but each kind of 
labor induces fatigue in its own way, and when a 
person is tired out with mental work the capacity 
for physical effort is lessened to a certain degree as 
well. 

For the self-supporting as well as the college girl, 
and in fact for every girl who follows some regular 
occupation, whether at home or abroad, there is reason 
for precaution at regular intervals and the girl who 
disregards the necessity will suffer from it in the long 
run. No one, of course, would be foolish enough to 
say that a working girl ought to neglect her work to 



LIFE ON LEAVING SCHOOL 283 

take care of herself, and there is no reason whatever 
that a healthy girl should do so. All that she needs to 
remember, as I have said in more detail elsewhere, is 
that in some way or other she must avoid extra claims 
upon her strength so as to " slow up " until the period 
is over, when she can put on full steam again until 
next time. 

Any consideration of the daily life of a young girl 
would be incomplete without some words upon the 
subject of dress. The costume of a girl undergoes a 
radical change when she passes from childhood to girl- 
hood and one that is not in all respects to her advan- 
tage. Up to the age of fourteen or fifteen she wears 
loosely fitting garments hanging from the shoulders; 
then she assumes the regulation woman's costume 
which, even in this day of blouses and shirt-waists, is 
more or less tight-fitting and may easily become too 
much so, especially at the age we are now considering. 
It is the fashion at present to inveigh against the un- 
healthy nature of women's clothing, which, according 
to would-be reformers, has every fault of omission 
and commission that can exist, but the results, as we 
see them before us in the women who wear the much 
abused garments, do not altogether bear out the accu- 
sations. 

The present custom which permits a girl to keep 
the woven undershirt next the skin which she wore as 
a child, is far more healthful than that of changing it 



284 GIRL AND WOMAN 

for a chemise, which used to be considered obligatory 
upon young girls. The chemise, being made of cot- 
ton or linen, soon became damp and sodden from 
the moisture of the skin which it could not absorb, and 
as both linen and cotton are bad conductors of heat, 
the warmth of the body easily escaped, leading to 
chilliness and making it easy to catch cold. 

Whether a girl wears drawers of cotton or woolen 
is a point to be determined by the climate, the 
health, and the individual preference. The long 
woven drawers reaching to the ankle and tucked inside 
the stocking that little girls are in the habit of wearing 
become too hot in the house as soon as skirts become 
longer and extend to the shoe tops or farther. Yet 
they cannot be taken off in the house and put on again 
to go out without some trouble and it seems as if the 
best solution of the difficulty is to wear short cotton 
drawers and put silk or woolen tights over them when 
a girl goes out in cold weather. 

The most important question in the clothing of 
young girls is the much vexed one of corsets. Of all 
the articles of women's attire that have at different 
times been abused and reviled, nothing has suffered so 
much at the hands of dress reformers as corsets. It 
is even reported that Hippocrates, who died in 361 
B. C, vigorously reproached the ladies of Cos for too 
tightly constructing their ribs and thus interfering 
with their breathing power. But before condemning 



LIFE ON LEAVING SCHOOL 285 

the corset in toto, it may do no harm to inquire ex- 
actly what is the harm done by it. 

The ribs, as well as other bones in the body, are 
still more or less cartilagineous in girlhood and the 
shape of them, especially the five lowest, commonly 
called the false ribs, can be easily changed by pres- 
sure. The shape of the upper ribs also can be 
changed by constriction, but only when it is extreme. 
If a corset is laced too tightly, the position of the false 
ribs will be altered, at first only for the moment, but 
ultimately in permanent form, and the organs within 
the chest cavity also may be injured or displaced. It 
does not follow, however, that because a corset is 
worn the pressure caused by it is excessive and it is 
curious that people who preach against tight lacing 
should never acknowledge any medium between ex- 
tremely tight corsets and no corsets at all. They as- 
sume as a matter of course that if a corset is worn it 
must be laced too tightly. 

If we look at the matter dispassionately we shall 
find the real state of the case to be this: A corset 
which is laced tightly enough to compress the ribs will 
change their shape, beside injuring the internal organs, 
in a woman of any age, and with a girl of fourteen 
or fifteen, whose bones are not hardened, the injury is 
caused easily with a comparatively slight amount of 
constriction, just as a faulty posture habitually as- 
sumed by a young girl will result in curvature of the 
20 



286 GIRL AND WOMAN 

spine, though the same posture in an older woman 
will very likely do no harm at all. But the corset's 
power for evil lies in the way it is manipulated, not in 
itself; there is no reason why a properly fitting corset, 
which is never drawn tighter than the natural size of 
the waist, should do any harm whatever. 

The practical upshot of these facts is that it is not 
desirable for a girl to wear corsets before she is 
eighteen, for earlier than this her bones are incom- 
pletely hardened and therefore easily distorted. 
When a girl of that age is thin and slender she does 
not need a corset, and can very well wait; if she is 
stout and clumsy, the corset will present a temptation 
to tight lacing that the discretion of a young girl, an- 
noyed perhaps by the ungrace fulness of her figure, 
may not be strong enough to resist, and it is 
wiser not to expose her to it. In fact the girl who, 
in the common phrase, " needs corsets early " is just 
the girl who ought to wait. It is hard upon her, no 
doubt, but her health is more important than her 
figure. The practice adopted by some fashionable 
mothers of deliberately putting corsets upon a very 
young girl in order, as they say, to form her figure, 
cannot be too strongly condemned. The only way in 
which the figure can be what they call " formed " is 
by changing the shape of the ribs, and this can only 
be effected by undue compression. The harm done 
in this way is often considerable and so far as this cus- 



LIFE ON LEAVING SCHOOL 287 

torn is concerned the people who declaim against cor- 
sets are justified in their indictment. 

It is sometimes asserted that the only thing to be said 
about a corset that is not too tight is that it is useless, 
but this is a senseless remark. Even when the corset 
is perfectly loose and exerts no pressure whatever, it 
gives a shape, without which a woman's figure, to our 
eyes, looks slovenly and ungraceful. Of course, the 
dress reformers maintain that our taste to-day is per- 
verted, and that we ought to admire the human figure 
as we see it in the ancient statues, but these good peo- 
ple never seem aware that the human figure to-day is 
precisely the same as it was in the times these statues 
were produced. The difference between them is en- 
tirely a question of clothes, which it is now customary 
to wear, and to which our eye is so accustomed that we 
think of the figure only as it appears in them. The 
only fair comparison between the Venus of Milo and 
the twentieth century woman would be one in which 
both were dressed or undressed, and if this could be 
done it would be seen that there is no difference (un- 
less in some exceptional case) between them. The 
whole question of corsets and tight lacing needs to be 
revised in a saner and more reasonable light and 
those who realize the necessity for this will find satis- 
faction in the remark of the great English surgeon, 
Sir Frederick Treves, that " in dealing with this mat- 
ter there would appear to be a tendency to reckless ex- 



283 GIRL AND WOMAN 

aggeration and sweeping assertion, as well as a dispo- 
sition to treat the subject with an explosive and hys- 
terical vigor." 

The manner of dressing the feet is of great im- 
portance to comfort and health. Here again we find 
a tendency to improved customs, for within recent 
years fashion has taken a sudden inclination to side 
with comfort and health. The fashionable shoe of a 
generation ago is still admired and affected by a few 
girls, but the majority of them like to boast that they 
wear shoes as large and heavy as their brothers. So 
long as they are not so heavy as to be rigid this is 
a good thing. A low heel is much better than no heel 
at all, but an inch to an inch and a quarter is all it 
should ever measure on a walking shoe. The high 
heel that used to be badge of fashion is still worn to 
some extent and strange to say it is more affected by 
the working girl than by her wealthier and fashion- 
able sister. It is always a great evil, for it induces 
a false position of the whole body by lifting up the 
heel of the foot and throwing the body forward, as if 
the individual were walking on tiptoe. When these 
high heels are used on slippers, in which no walking 
of any extent is done, they do no harm, but for any 
other purpose they are as injurious as anything can 
possibly be, especially if they run too far under the 
middle of the foot, as they often do, thus altering the 
whole balance of the body. 



LIFE ON LEAVING SCHOOL 289 

Garters of any kind, whether above or below the 
knee, are an objectionable feature in a girl's clothing. 
They are almost sure to arrest the circulation and 
cause cold feet, to say nothing of possible varicose 
veins. There are various ways of keeping up stock- 
ings by supports attached to the clothes, the latest de- 
vice being straps fastened to the corset or corset waist. 
These would seem most desirable, but some people 
complain that they cause pain in the muscles of the 
calf. 



CHAPTER XI 



MINOR AILMENTS 



Headache — Constipation — Diarrhea — Indigestion — Colds 
— Over-fatigue — Dangers in popular remedies. 

Of all the minor ailments to which girls are subject, 
headache is the most common. It usually makes its 
appearance at puberty and sometimes the tendency to 
it passes away in a few years, with other disturbances 
characteristic of the period; in other cases the head- 
aches recur more or less frequently through life. The 
occasional recurrence of headache of no great severity, 
is not a matter for uneasiness, but whenever a girl has 
frequent headaches, some attention should be paid to 
them, for they usually indicate something amiss. If 
the girl seems to be well, except while actually suffer- 
ing with the headache, it is best for her to consult an 
oculist at once, no matter whether she complains of 
her eyes or not. Every year adds to the number of 
young people who are discovered to be suffering from 
headache due to defective eyesight and are relieved by 
proper glasses, and not a few of these girls had no 
symptoms whatever directly associated with the eyes. 
290 



MINOR AILMENTS 291 

It must never be forgotten that even if a girl's eyes 
have already been examined and, perhaps, fitted with 
glasses, they may still be the cause of headaches which 
have begun since the oculist was consulted, for defects 
of the eyes are especially likely to develop or to in- 
crease just at this age. 

But if the girl with headaches is pale, languid, and 
generally out of sorts, the family doctor had better be 
consulted immediately and a specialist later, if it seems 
advisable. Poverty of the blood, which is one of the 
physical disturbances occasionally present at this age, 
is a cause of headache, and so is indigestion, but in 
girls of this age headache proceeds from constipation 
more often than from anything else, except the eyes. 
All of these troubles a physician will find means to 
relieve. It is a great mistake to let a girl go on suffer- 
ing from headaches, without taking measures for her 
relief. 

Many girls suffer more or less from headache at the 
monthly periods and with some of them the pain in 
the head is more marked than the customary pelvic 
pain. The idea, held by some persons, that pain in 
menstruation is only in the neighborhood of the organs 
concerned is entirely a mistake. It has been already 
explained that suffering of any kind at the period is 
a manifestation of nervous disturbance and the dis- 
turbance may express itself in headache, as well as in 
the organs immediately concerned. Neither headache 



292 GIRL AND WOMAN 

nor pelvic pain necessarily indicates disease or dis- 
placement, but they both emphasize the necessity for 
care of the nervous system by means of rest and re- 
laxation. 

Everyone with a headache is anxious for immediate 
relief, and there are innumerable headache remedies, 
but it is a great risk to take any one of them unless 
its use has been sanctioned by a physician. The 
reasons for this caution are given at the close of this 
chapter. Bromide of potash is almost the only drug 
that it is safe to take without medical advice ; this may 
be tried in powders of twenty grains each, dissolved in 
water, and in some kinds of headache it will give great 
relief. In all headaches one of two conditions is pres- 
ent : the blood flow to the brain is increased or else it 
is lessened. If it is increased, the blood vessels in the 
brain are congested, the face is flushed, and there is 
a throbbing sensation in the head. With a headache 
of this kind an ice cap on the top of the head or at 
the base of the skull often gives relief ; so does a mus- 
tard plaster over the back of the neck, or some chloro- 
form and aconite liniment on a piece of flannel held 
over the same place. If the feet are cold, as they 
often are, they should have a hot water bag or some 
substitute for it applied to them. This is the form 
of headache in which bromide of potash, which re- 
duces the activity of the circulation in the brain, does 
most good. 



MINOR AILMENTS 293 

When, on the other hand, the circulation in the 
brain is lessened, the face is pale with an anxious 
expression, and there is a tendency to chilliness, with 
more or less exhaustion. In headaches of this kind 
the subject needs as much warmth and rest as possible 
and she should be warmly covered up and kept quiet. 
It is always well to find out how long it is since she 
has had something to eat, for it may be that faintness 
from lack of food is a factor in the pain. In such 
cases there is generally no appetite and there may be 
an aversion to food, but some light nourishment, such 
as soup, beef-tea, a glass of hot milk, will often work 
wonders. A cup of tea or coffee also frequently 
gives relief, especially if the patient is not in the habit 
of taking it. In this kind of headache some people 
get a great deal of relief from having the head 
brushed slowly and gently with a stiff brush ; others 
cannot bear anything of the kind. In all cases rest 
and, if possible, sleep are the important things. This 
sort of headache, if it happens often, shows that the 
subject of it is not in vigorous health and that her 
general condition requires attention. 

One particular form of headache requires a special 
word, and that is the kind commonly known as sick 
headache and technically as migraine. This sort of 
headache is quite a different thing from the headache 
accompanied with nausea and vomiting, which goes 
with an attack of acute indigestion. In the latter case 



294 GIRL AND WOMAN 

the headache and nausea are simply accompaniments 
of the indigestion and disappear with its relief ; but in 
sick headache they are manifestation of some under- 
lying condition that we do not yet understand. Some 
authorities believe that sick headaches are a special 
nervous manifestation; others think they are a form 
of constitutional gout, and there is no doubt that 
gout is associated with them in some cases. 

Sick headaches are rarely present in children; they 
usually begin at puberty when other phases of nervous 
disturbance are present. With girls they are apt to 
occur with the regular periods, and in some cases they 
do not appear at any other time. In these instances 
the patient and her relatives are always prone to think 
there must be some local disease which accounts for 
them and that the headaches will disappear if this is 
cured. But the fact that men have these headaches as 
well as women, shows that they can have no direct 
connection with the organs concerned in menstruation ; 
furthermore, in some cases when disease or displace- 
ment of these organs has been discovered and rem- 
edied, the headaches have not been in the least bene- 
fited. There can be no doubt that they appear at the 
periods only because the nervous system is more sus- 
ceptible at such times than at others. 

Such headaches usually begin early in the morning, 
and people who are subject to them often find that 
they are preceded by peculiarly heavy, deep sleep. As 



MINOR AILMENTS 295 

soon as the subject of the headache gets up, she 
feels giddy and often she sees spots dancing before 
her eyes or experiences a sensation of dazzling light. 
The pain is almost always confined to one side of the 
head, and the face on the affected side is either deeply 
flushed or deadly pale. There may be nausea from 
the first, or it may not come on for an hour or two. 
After it does begin it soon turns to violent vomiting, 
which does not, however, bring relief as in ordinary 
indigestion. The attacks of vomiting and retching 
succeed each other at short intervals for about five 
or six hours, during which the pain is very severe and 
sometimes really agonizing. At the end of this time 
the vomiting ceases, the pain gradually lessens and, 
in the case of a young girl in good health, recovery 
is astonishingly rapid. By the evening she will feel 
almost well again and be ravenously hungry, while 
the next morning she will get up as well as ever. 
Later in life, or when there is some delicacy of con- 
stitution, recovery may be a matter of several days. 
Everything about these headaches goes to show that 
they are nerve storms in which for some reason gastric 
disorder is present, but we do not yet know whether 
the cause of them lies in the nervous system itself 
or in some constitutional condition which affects it. 
Such a headache as has been just described is typical; 
not all of them are so severe and the patient may be 
able under strong necessity to get about. A really 



296 GIRL AND WOMAN 

well-marked attack, however, is absolutely prostrating. 
One peculiar feature of many sick headaches is over- 
powering drowsiness, probably arising from some dis- 
turbance of the circulation of the brain. In some 
cases this is so excessive that it will overcome the 
severity of the pain and the patient will sleep heavily 
between the attacks of vomiting. 

It is useless to give any internal remedies for a 
well-marked sick headache, for the stomach cannot 
retain them. In the less severe cases a cup of hot' 
coffee, taken in the very beginning of the attack, be- 
fore the nausea has become established, sometimes 
gives relief, as well as a mustard plaster over the back 
of the neck, and another over the stomach, but in a 
case of even moderate severity there is nothing to be 
done but to keep the patient quiet in a darkened room 
and make her as comfortable as possible. In unusu- 
ally severe cases, or under special circumstances, it 
may be necessary to send for the doctor and let him 
give a hypodermic injection of morphin, but neither 
the patient nor her family should ever be allowed to 
keep the hypodermic syringe and use it themselves. 
Many cases of the opium habit have been formed in 
exactly this way, and no one is justified in thinking 
themselves equal to the temptation. 

But, although nothing can be done to relieve these 
headaches, a great deal is possible in the way of re- 
ducing their frequency and severity, and girls who are 



MINOR AILMENTS 297 

subject to them can do more for themselves than any- 
one can do for them. Attention to all the laws of 
health, avoidance of over-fatigue and excitement, early 
hours, plenty of sleep, and especially attention to the 
bowels will do a great deal to hold them in check. 
In some cases the relief of habitual constipation has 
been followed by almost entire freedom from this kind 
of headache. When the headaches are associated with 
a gouty or rheumatic tendency, it manifests itself by 
shooting pains in the joints with soreness just be- 
fore the attack of headache, and if this fact is men- 
tioned to a doctor, he can often improve the head- 
aches by treatment appropriate to the underlying trou- 
ble. When these headaches continue after the period 
of puberty is passed, they can rarely be entirely cured, 
yet by a properly regulated life and great attention to 
the laws of health they are often so controlled that 
they occur only at intervals of years. 

One of the most frequent causes of headaches, as 
well as of many other disturbances of health is con- 
stipation. In fact, though headache from various 
sources may be the most frequent of all minor ail- 
ments among women, if we consider the two sexes 
together we shall find that constipation will prove the 
commonest of all. To realize all the varieties of 
harm that may arise from constipation, it is only neces- 
sary to understand the conditions associated with it, 
but this is exactly what many people do not. A cer- 



298 GIRL AND WOMAN 

tain amount of waste product is produced each day in 
the action of the various bodily processes and this 
waste material must be removed from the body each 
day by the process known as excretion, performed by 
the intestines, the kidneys, and the skin. The work 
done by the skin and the kidneys is not directly un- 
der our control, though we can influence it indirectly 
by means of exercise, daily baths followed by friction, 
and drinking a liberal amount of water. But excre- 
tion from the intestines, to a certain extent at any 
rate, is a voluntary action, which can be performed or 
not as we please. As the food mass passes down the 
digestive tract, such parts of it as are capable of 
nourishing the body are digested and absorbed, while 
the remainder, which consists of various kinds of ma- 
terial unavailable for nourishment, is excreted from 
the end of the large intestine. This refuse material, 
technically known as feces, is composed of the waste 
products formed in the different bodily processes, the 
indigestible parts of the food, such as husks, seeds, 
stones, and any odds and ends of food that have 
escaped digestion. It passes on downward, assisted 
by the movements of the delicate muscles in the coats 
of the intestines, and prevented from moving back 
by valves formed by folds of the lining mucous mem- 
brane until it reaches the last division of the large 
intestine called the rectum. 

When a sufficient amount has collected there, it 



MINOR AILMENTS 299 

stimulates the mucous lining and excites a desire for 
evacuation. If this impulse is resisted, the mass of 
feces either returns to the upper bowel or else ac- 
cumulates in the rectum, and after a little while blunts 
the sensibility of the lining, so that the desire to empty 
the bowels is no longer felt, no matter how full the 
rectum may be. Unless this state of things is speed- 
ily relieved, the waste products are re-absorbed into 
the blood and act as poisons to all parts of the body 
to which they are carried. Indigestion, loss of appe- 
tite, headache, and all manner of physical evils result 
from the slow poisoning due to re-absorption of waste 
products that nature intended should be expelled. The 
complexion in many cases is often markedly affected, 
and many of the skin troubles that distress young girls 
so terribly are due entirely to a loaded condition of 
the bowels. 

This poisoning process affects not only the body 
but the mind, mental depression and irritability of 
temper are frequent consequences and the relief of 
the over-loaded bowel is followed by astonishing re- 
sults in directions which no one had thought of con- 
necting with deficient excretion. A certain story, 
which, if old is still good, relates that a famous Scotch 
minister was once sent for late at night to see one 
of his parishioners, a wealthy and prosperous lady, 
who was in terrible anxiety as to the condition of her 
soul, which she believed was doomed to damnation 



300 GIRL AND WOMAN 

beyond a peradventure. The old minister came, but 
after hearing the lady's outpourings of distress and 
anxiety, he turned to her maid who stood by and 
asked : " How long is it since her leddyship's bowels 
were opened." The event proved that his suspicion 
was a shrewd one, for after the administration of a 
purgative all the religious doubts and difficulties dis- 
appeared like smoke. 

To empty the bowels at regular intervals is of vital 
importance to health, and is, therefore, a duty in- 
cumbent upon everyone. The point is of especial im- 
portance to girls, because constipation is a fruitful 
source of dysmenorrhea. Once in every twenty-four 
hours the rectum should be emptied, but unfortunately 
girls and young women are extremely careless in this 
respect, for many of them pay no attention to the 
condition of the bowels until they are forced to do so 
by their own discomfort, thinking, apparently, that 
discomfort is the only reason for doing so. The rule 
ought to be made early in life that a daily action is 
a moral duty and the various measures by which the 
habit can be formed and maintained ought to be care- 
fully considered. This habit of daily action ought to 
be acquired in childhood, but unfortunately, not all 
parents train their children in this respect as they 
should do, and it often happens that a girl finds her- 
self under the necessity of establishing the habit for 
herself. She may take comfort, however, in the re- 



MINOR AILMENTS 301 

flection that a persevering and determined effort in 
the right direction will always be successful in the end. 

In order to establish the proper habit, an hour for 
daily evacuation should be fixed and when once it is 
settled it must not be changed for any reason what- 
ever. The time of day that is chosen is not a matter 
of importance, the essential point is that it shall not 
be varied when once it is adopted. The common habit 
of emptying the bowels every morning directly after 
breakfast is simply a matter of convenience; there 
is no special virtue in that time of day, and if it is 
not a convenient season, some other hour should be ap- 
pointed. Many persons find the hour just before go- 
ing to bed a good one. When the hour is settled an 
attempt at evacuation must always be made at the time 
fixed, whether it is successful or not, and if it fails 
the desire for evacuation later in the day must, if pos- 
sible, be resisted. The regular habit will never be ac- 
quired if the bowels act at nine o'clock in the morn- 
ing one day and three o'clock in the afternoon the 
next. * 

Very few people realize that the posture usually 
assumed when emptying the bowels is a faulty one, 
for in it the action of the abdominal muscles is wrongly 
directed and consequently their full force is not ob- 
tained at the place where it is wanted. The squatting 
posture instinctively assumed by savages and by young 

children is the natural one, where the thighs are drawn 
21 



302 GIRL AND WOMAN 

up against the abdomen. Unfortunately the plan upon 
which the present water-closet seats are made is not 
suited to this position, but the defect can to a large 
extent be overcome by using a stool of such a height 
as to bring the feet up to the proper distance from 
the seat. 

Next to habit, food is the most efficacious means of 
keeping the bowels in order. A mixed diet contain- 
ing all kinds of food is best for this purpose, as it is 
for others. The main point in it, however, is that 
it shall contain a certain amount of indigestible food, 
because the more perfectly a food is digested and ab- 
sorbed, the less residue is left to pass into the rectum 
and excite the desire for evacuation. Milk, for in- 
stance, which is an almost perfect food because it can 
be completely digested and absorbed, leaves no residue 
whatever to pass into the rectum. The foods which 
are best for the regulation of the bowels are : bread 
of all kinds, especially the coarser varieties, such as 
corn bread, rye bread, Graham and brown bread ; the 
various cereals ; fruits, especially those that have seeds, 
whether raw or cooked, butter, molasses, honey; and 
last, but not least, vegetables which contain large 
quantities of an indigestible substance called cellulose. 
Potatoes are especially valuable in the relief of con- 
stipation, because they consist largely of cellulose and 
of water. Water in itself is an excellent thing in the 
regulation of the bowels. A glass on rising in the 



MINOR AILMENTS 303 

morning often helps greatly in establishing a good 
habit and a teaspoonful of salt in it often makes it 
more efficacious. Some persons prefer it hot and 
others like it better cold. 

No one can ever hope to keep the bowels in good 
order without regular bodily exercise. Girls who 
lead sedentary lives at school or college or in some 
occupation for self-support, almost always suffer from 
constipation, for the abdominal muscles become weak- 
ened from want of exercise and this interferes with 
the passage of food downward. Active stimulating 
exercise is imperative, and if a girl cannot get a good 
long walk in the open air every day, she ought to try 
some kind of gymnastic exercises in a room with the 
windows open, so as to come as near the fresh air as 
possible. To strengthen the abdominal muscles it is 
a good plan to lie down flat on the floor (not on a 
bed) with all the clothing perfectly loose, and then 
raise the body into a sitting posture by means of the 
abdominal muscles without the help of the hands. 
This process, if it is repeated a good many times and 
kept up for some weeks or even months, will often 
accomplish wonders. 

Under normal conditions no medicine should ever 
be taken to induce the bowels to act. In cases of tem- 
porary illness, when exercise cannot be taken and 
the gastro-intestinal tract is more or less out of order, 
it may be advisable to take a laxative, but not in 



304 GIRL AND WOMAN 

ordinary health. Enemata are not so objectionable as 
medicine, nevertheless they are not desirable, except 
in cases of special urgency, because whenever artifi- 
cial means for unloading the bowels are used, there 
comes a tendency to depend upon them, instead of 
forming a habit. A great deal is being written and 
said at the present moment in regard to overcoming 
constipation by means of suggestion and the influence 
of the mind. The idea, however, is an old one, and 
physicians have always tried to train their patients 
along these lines. 

The opposite trouble to constipation, diarrhea, or 
looseness of the bowels, is of less frequent occurrence. 
In ordinary cases, it arises from over-irritability of 
the muscular or the mucous coat of the intestine, and 
this irritability may be brought on in several different 
ways. The most common cause of irritability of the 
mucous membrane is cold, which chills the surface 
of the body and drives the blood back to the internal 
organs, setting up a congestion of the circulation in 
the intestinal mucous membrane, resulting in a slight 
inflammation with increased secretion that causes 
diarrhea. Irritability of the muscular coat arises, in 
general, from over-sensitiveness of the nerves supply- 
ing it, and they may be excited by almost any condi- 
tion that affects the central nervous system. Extreme 
nervousness and excitement are often accompanied by 
diarrhea and some persons cannot pass through any 



MINOR AILMENTS 305 

nervous crisis without an attack of it. Still another 
cause of diarrhea is the presence of too much coarse 
food in the intestines. The coarse articles of food 
that relieve constipation sometimes excite an over-ac- 
tivity of the bowels and cause diarrhea. When diar- 
rhea is due to cold or to nervous excitement, it will 
subside as soon as the cause is removed, but when it 
comes from improper food, there must be a change 
of diet. In such a case as this it is necessary to 
leave off all fruit, all green or canned vegetables, as 
well as bread, unless it is toasted, and keep for a few 
days to a restricted diet consisting of lean meat, milk, 
crackers, toast, and rice. If this does not relieve the 
trouble, a doctor should be sent for. Sometimes a 
violent chill or some peculiarly improper food will 
cause an attack of violent diarrhea, known as cholera 
morbus, in which the patient suffers great pain in the 
abdomen, with nausea and vomiting. In old people 
or delicate people these attacks are sometimes dan- 
gerous from their violence and the sudden exhaustion 
that accompanies them, but in a vigorous young girl 
there is no cause for alarm. A doctor should be sent 
for at once, but if one cannot be had for some time, 
the attack can usually be relieved by paregoric. 

Catching cold is a very common ailment and one 
that varies extremely in importance, from a slight 
cold in the head to a severe cold on the chest ending in 
bronchitis. There can be no doubt that a cold, 



306 GIRL AND WOMAN 

whether in the head or on the chest, is due to infection 
from some germ, but these germs, whatever they are, 
do not seem to act without some exposure that gives 
them a favorable opportunity to enter and develop. 
Exposure to cold from a sudden drop in the tempera- 
ture or from getting wet chills the surface of the body 
and if the chill is not followed by a speedy reaction, 
such as we excite after a cold bath by means of brisk 
friction, the internal mucous membranes will get into 
a congested condition that affords a favorable soil for 
the reception and growth of bacteria, which are always 
present in the atmosphere. 

An ordinary cold in the head begins in the back of 
the nose and the upper part of the throat, and goes no 
further down, but if the infection takes a strong hold, 
it will spread from its first situation and extend down 
the throat into the bronchial tubes leading to the lungs, 
creating more or less inflammation, and causing the 
so-called " chest cold " which is really a mild bron 
chitis. In severe cases the inflammation extends into 
the smaller bronchial tubes and then we have an at 
tack of bronchitis, as we usually understand it, 
companied by fever and other symptoms of illness, 
slight degree of fever is usually present with any cold, 
but it only becomes marked when the inflammation 
has extended into the smaller bronchial tubes. With 
delicate persons the cold will sometimes begin in the 
bronchial tubes without going through the preliminary 



to 

! 



MINOR AILMENTS 307 

stage in the head ; and when it does so, the case is more 
serious. The usual course of all colds is first a stage 
of dryness, when the glands in the mucous membrane 
do not act at all, and then another when the inflamma- 
tion begins to clear up and the improvement is shown 
by an increased secretion from the mucous glands. 
At this stage the cough, set up by the irritation of 
the mucous membrane, becomes loose, and there is 
much expectoration of the increased secretion. 

The best thing to do for a cold is to avoid taking 
it. A great deal can be done to prevent colds by 
training the body in healthy habits, by exercising dis- 
cretion in protection against chills, and by avoiding 
coddling. A cold bath every morning, with brisk fric- 
tion after it, is one of the best means of hardening the 
body against chill. A woolen garment of some kind 
should be worn next the skin, and abundance of warm 
outer clothing put on when going into the outside air. 
So long as these essentials are observed, there need be 
no hesitation about going out in all weathers; on the 
contrary, nothing encourages taking cold so much as 
shutting oneself up in the house for fear of catching 
it. Even a wetting will not do much harm, if the wet 
clothes are removed at once and the body rubbed as 
it is after a bath. Wet clothes, however, and wet 
shoes and stockings, in particular, must never be al- 
lowed to dry on the feet ; the chilliness and depression 
of vitality that result are the most favorable condi- 



308 GIRL AND WOMAN 

tion possible for the invasion of the infection. Sleep- 
ing with the windows open is another preventive of 
great value. The germs that cause infection are 
present in the air of houses much more than they are 
out of doors, and the more careful we are about the 
sweeping, dusting, and ventilation of our houses, the 
less will we catch cold. Public places, in especial, are 
favorable to colds, because there is always much dust 
in them. 

A cold having once been taken, there are various 
ways of treating it. Some persons find a good sized 
dose of quinine taken at the outset has a marked effect 
in breaking it up. Others find that spraying the nose 
with an antiseptic solution of some kind, or touching 
the mucous membrane of the nose with a medicated 
pencil does great good. Other people again think 
nothing so sure to be efficacious as a Dover's powder, 
provided they can remain in bed next day, since the 
effect of the opium in these powders is to make the 
sweat glands act profusely. Unless a cold is broken 
up at the very beginning, it will run through a definite 
course, the length of which varies with different peo- 
ple, from one day to ten. If a cold lasts longer than 
two weeks, a doctor should always be sent for, and he 
should be sent for in the beginning, if the condition 
seems at all serious, or the fever is high. 

Indigestion is a word that covers such a multitude 
of conditions that it is difficult to discuss. The name 



MINOR AILMENTS 309 

means simply want of digestion, but the place at which 
the digestive process is wanting in activity may be sit- 
uated anywhere in the alimentary tract. The three 
most common forms of indigestion, from the point of 
view of situation, are : gastric indigestion, where the 
trouble is situated in the stomach; intestinal indiges- 
tion, where it is in the intestine; and derangement of 
the liver, when we have the so-called biliousness. In 
gastric indigestion there is more or less discomfort 
and actual pain over the region of the stomach, that 
is to say, at about the waist line, and a little above it, 
accompanied, it may be, by a gnawing sensation. 
Sometimes there is constipation ; sometimes there is no 
disturbance of the bowels at all. In intestinal indi- 
gestion, the pain, if there is any, is situated in the ab- 
domen ; sometimes it is a dull soreness, sometimes it 
resembles colic. In this form of indigestion there is 
almost always diarrhea. When the liver is out of 
order, there may be a dull heavy pain beneath the right 
shoulder-blade, and there is always more or less head- 
ache, drowsiness, and sometimes nausea. The bowels 
are usually constipated and the actions are often pale 
in color, or, it may be, quite white. In all forms of 
indigestion, the appetite may be more or less im- 
paired, or it may be just as usual. 

It is not well to take medicine for indigestion with- 
out a doctor's advice, but a good deal can be done to 
help it by regulating the diet. A milk diet for a few 



3io GIRL AXD WOMAN 

days often does good in all forms of digestive trou- 
ble. Intestinal indigestion is the most serious form 
and unless it speedily improves a doctor should be 
consulted. When the liver is at fault, a dose of cal- 
omel can be safely tried, in powders or granules of 
one-eighth of a grain each, repeated every hour or 
half-hour until eight have been taken, and followed 
next morning by some sort of saline laxative, such 
as a seidlitz powder, a glass of Apenta water, or some 
Epsom salts. The digestion is much influenced by 
the nervous system, and for this reason it is often 
upset at the regular periods in young girls. There 
is nothing to be done in such cases, except regulate the 
diet for a few days, but it is well to understand clearly 
why digestive disturbance should appear at these times, 
in order that no anxiety may be felt concerning them. 

Over-fatigue in any marked degree is not by any 
means a minor ailment, for its results as regards the 
nervous system are often of a most serious nature. 
But these severe manifestations would rarely occur 
if the first symptoms of over- fatigue received due at- 
tention, and it is these early indications that are suited 
for consideration here. 

One of the earliest and most significant signs of 
over-fatigue is disturbed sleep, which may manifest 
itself in one of three ways : sleeplessness, unquiet sleep, 
and undue drowsiness. The first of the three, want 
of sleep, is by far the most common. A girl finds 



MINOR AILMENTS 311 

that she cannot go to sleep for hours after she goes 
to bed or else she wakes up at some time during the 
night, generally towards early morning, and cannot 
get to sleep again. 

There are other girls who, when they are over-tired, 
do not lose any part of their night's rest, but their 
sleep is so restless, uneasy, and troubled, that it does 
not refresh them in the least and they get up in the 
morning quite exhausted and feeling as if they had 
walked over a ploughed field. In still another class 
of people, especially young girls, fatigue shows itself 
in a craving for more than the usual amount of sleep. 
Girls of this type find it gets more and more difficult 
to get up at their usual hour, they cannot keep awake 
until their usual bedtime, and they drop asleep at odd 
moments all through the day. Want of sleep is al- 
ways recognized as a sign of over-fatigue, which is 
fortunate since it is the most serious of the different 
forms of disturbance, but it is a pity that the other 
two conditions are not sufficiently appreciated, for they 
too contain no uncertain note of warning. 

Another sign of over-fatigue is a feeling of effort, 
either mental or physical, out of all proportion to what 
is really required. In bad cases, this may reach such 
a point that it is an almost impossible effort to put on 
one's shoes in the morning' or to decide between two 
books to be taken out of a library. The milder forms 
are hardly perceptible, but the subject herself can tell, 



3 i2 GIRL AND WOMAN 

if she allows herself to notice, that she has a feeling 
of undue exertion in regard to something or other. 
She may feel if only at the end of the day when she 
is tired, or only with certain special duties, but it is 
there. Still another symptom is that work takes 
longer than it ought to do, or has ever done before. 
Inability to rest when the time comes is a most sig- 
nificant sign of over-fatigue. Just at the time that 
fatigue is greatest and rest is most important it will 
seem to the fatigued person that it is absolutely im- 
possible for her to put the work aside, or if she forces 
herself to do so, she cannot take her thoughts off 
it. Then it may be that the next day, when she is 
rested, she will suddenly find her mind again under her 
own control. The condition of a girl's own spirits and 
temper are also an excellent measure of fatigue. If 
she finds herself becoming irritable with every trifle, 
attaching undue importance to a trifling error, or im- 
agining fancied slights and misunderstanding, her fa- 
tigue is greater than it ought to be, whether the work 
is too heavy or not. This is a point that girls need 
especially to remember, namely, that the standard by 
which fatigue must be judged is the condition of the 
individual nervous system, not the amount of work 
done. One girl can do with ease what for another girl 
is far too much ; furthermore, some kinds of work are 
more fatiguing to each individual than others and 
distasteful work is always more fatiguing than what 



MINOR AILMENTS 313 

is congenial. The only real test is the condition of the 
nervous system, and the signs by which its condition 
may be recognized are those just given, as well as 
others of less importance, for which there is no space 
here. Nature gives these warnings as signals of dan- 
ger ahead, in order that the worker may recognize how 
much her nervous system is being affected by her 
work and protect herself from injury. If she disre- 
gards them, she does so at her own risk. 

If these warnings were always acted upon in time, 
there would be much fewer causes of nervous pros- 
tration, to say nothing of other affections associated 
with over-fatigue, and if young girls just beginning to 
work for themselves, will only be wise in time, the 
years, as they go by, will not be filled, as they so 
often are, by discouragement and pressure. As re- 
gards the best method of taking precautions, I know 
of no place where such excellent advice upon the sub- 
ject can be found than in an article by Dr. Floyd 
M. Crandall in the World's Work for February, 1903. 
The paper is written for men, but it contains little or 
nothing that is not as appropriate for women, and the 
principal points are so much better expressed by him 
than they could possibly be by me, that I shall take 
the liberty of quoting a few on which he lays especial 
stress. 

" Do not keep too many irons in the fire. The 
watching each one demands additional concentration 



314 GIRL AND WOMAN 

and adds to mental loss. . . . Men often keep 
themselves keyed up to such a pitch that they use up 
as much vital force in doing routine work and unim- 
portant details as in negotiating great transactions. 
. . . It is unwise to assume so much business that 
one is obliged to labor up to the full extent of one's 
powers. It is an insane captain who loads his vessel 
to the water line because he is lying in a quiet harbor. 
. . . Specialism has come to be a characteristic of 
modern life. But where specialism goes, there goes 
the tendency to fall into a rut, and a rut is a very bad 
thing to fall into. . . . To keep out of ruts you 
must begin early in life. Begin by reading a good 
daily newspaper. This contains a general education 
that cannot be obtained in the same time from any 
other source, with one or two good monthly magazines 
as well, and fiction, history, general literature, i . . 
Irregular hours, too little sleep, and faulty diet are 
the factors in most breakdowns. ... A break- 
down is by no means a necessary result of our intense 
modern life. There is more to provoke it than there 
ever was before, but at the same time we have more 
means at our hand to prevent it, if we will utilize 
them." 

Before concluding the subject of minor ailments, it 
seems only right to say a word in regard to the risks 
that attend the use of many popular remedies sold for 
their relief. I have already spoken of the danger in 



MINOR AILMENTS 315 

headache remedies, and I will now take it up a little 
more in detail. These remedies owe their efficacy in 
almost all cases to some one of the coal-tars, a class of 
remedies that came into use about twenty-five years 
ago. At first they were welcomed by physicians, who 
found that they gave greater relief to pain than any- 
thing else except opium, and although they could not 
take the place of opium in severe suffering, they of- 
fered promise of relief in many forms of moderate 
pain, where the use of opium is not usually justifiable. 
But it soon appeared that the coal-tars have all of 
them a tendency to depress the action of the heart and 
that their use was sometimes followed by heart fail- 
ure, which fact obliged physicians to be extremely cau- 
tious in prescribing them. Then, as they became more 
widely known, it proved that many people possessed 
a peculiar susceptibility to them, so that they were 
made ill by an ordinary dose of any one of them. 
Idiosyncrasies of this kind are met with in all med- 
icines, but they are extremely rare ; the peculiarity with 
the coal-tars is that in their case they seem to be quite 
common. 

There are a great number of these coal-tars. 
Phenacetin is one, antifebrin is another, acetanilid a 
third, and many others, whose names are only known 
to persons specially concerned. Almost all headache 
remedies contain some one of these coal-tars, and 
those more commonly known can be purchased un- 



3 i6 GIRL AND WOMAN 

combined — phenacetin, for example, is often sold for 
the relief of headache, and is used everywhere quite 
widely, because the patent on it has recently expired, 
and it is cheap. Now it is plain that if a person takes 
a headache remedy containing a coal-tar, the ingredi- 
ents of which she does not know, and should happen 
to have an idiosyncrasy which causes it to depress the 
heart unduly, she will certainly suffer from it, and 
may do so very seriously. For the dose of the coal- 
tar, whichever it may be, contained in the headache 
remedy is always what the ordinary person is sup- 
posed to take. A physician in giving the same thing 
would begin with a small dose and watch carefully for 
possible signs of harm, but when it is contained in a 
patent medicine, there is no such safeguard. 

Another danger that lurks in popular remedies is 
that many of them contain opium or alcohol, and the 
risk of acquiring the drug habit in this way is known 
to be great. Many a girl who takes a tonic that she 
believes is doing her a great deal of good, feels better 
only from the stimulus of the alcohol or the opium, 
or some other stimulant, such as cocain, that it con- 
tains, without her knowing it. Some idea of the 
amount of alcohol in certain patent medicines sold 
as tonics or for the relief of pain may be obtained 
from the percentages found on their analysis by the 
Massachusetts State Board Analyst. 

Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound contains 20.6 



MINOR AILMENTS 317 

per cent of alcohol; Peruna contains 28.5 per cent; 
Paine's Celery Compound 21 per cent; and Schenck's 
Sea-weed Tonic, advertised explicitly as " entirely 
harmless" contains 19.5 per cent. I have no exact 
figures such as these in the case of opium, but it is 
well known that many remedies, especially those for 
the relief of pain, do contain some form of it, as well 
as cocain or caffein. 

The new pure food and drug law, recently passed, 
affords a certain amount of protection from these 
medicines, but it is only partial. This law requires 
that the label on the bottle or box of every patent 
medicine shall state distinctly the quantity and propor- 
tion, if any, of alcohol, morphin, opium, cocain, and 
various other specified drugs or their derivatives con- 
tained in it. But many people, not by any means 
ignorant, do not know the meaning of the names 
stated. Very few of the coal-tars in the headache 
remedies, for instance, would be recognized, even if 
the risks of the well-known ones were understood. 
So with some of the derivatives of opium. The word 
itself, and its dangers, is recognized by everyone, but 
not all of us know that codein is its derivative, even 
if we understand that morphin is so. Furthermore, 
the law does not require the statement as to in- 
gredients to be made in print of any special size, 
and it is easy to make it inconspicuous. No 

doubt the law is a step in the right direction, and 
22 



318 GIRL AND WOMAN 

it is not without benefit, but the protection af- 
forded by it is far from complete. The only safety 
in taking a patent medicine is to find out from a 
physician whether it is safe to do so, and in this case, 
he may as well be asked for a prescription. 

In conclusion, it may be said that minor ailments 
are better treated by prevention than cure. The girl 
who lives in accordance with the laws of health, will 
have little experience of minor ailments, and if the 
habit of attention to these laws is formed in girl- 
hood her mature years will be sane and healthy. 



INDEX 



Acetanilid, 315. 

Affection, changes of, in girl- 
hood, 33. 

Alcohol, presence of, in pat- 
ent medicines, 125, 169, 316. 

Altruistic instinct, association 
of, with egotism, 27 ; devel- 
opment of, 27 ; exaggerated 
manifestation of, 56; influ- 
ence of, in early love affairs, 
35 ; presence of, in all forms 
of youthful affection, 33. 

Ameba, reproduction in, 79. 

Amenorrhea, active treatment 
objectionable in, 130; acute 
diseases a cause of, 127; 
causes of, 127; change of 
climate a cause of, 129; 
chlorosis a cause of, 127; 
chronic disease a cause of, 
127; complete, 127;, conserv- 
ative nature of, 127, 129; 
definition of, 126; exposure 
a cause of, 131 ; medicine ob- 
jectionable in, 129, 130; ner- 
vous influences a cause of, 
129; partial, 127; relief of, 
130; tuberculosis a cause of, 
128. 

Amusements, for school-girl, 
251; after leaving school, 
265; for self-supporting girl, 
277. 

Anemia, causes of, in girlhood, 
8 ; headache from, 9, 291 ; 
hemorrhage from, 133; pres- 
ence of, in insanity, 52; will- 
power impaired by, 72. 

Antifibrin, 315. 



Appetite, affected by, consti- 
pation, 299; headache, 293; 
indigestion, 309; menstrua- 
tion, 122. 

Appetite in girlhood, peculiari- 
ties of, 11; perversion of, 12. 

Arteries, changes of, in girl- 
hood, 6. 

Astigmatism in school-girls, 
250. 

Athletics for girls, avoidance 
of, at menstrual period, 114; 
general considerations on, 
195 ; objections to, 182 ; va- 
rieties of, 190. 

Atmospheric dust, dangers 
from, 172, 308; disposition 
of, 174- 

Aurist, reasons for consulting, 
231, 233. 

Austen, Jane, on development 
of interest in personal ap- 
pearance, 30. 

Barometric pressure, influence 
of, on menstruation, 129. 

Basket-ball, 195. 

Bath, cold, benefit of, to health, 
202 ; correct effects of, 203 ; 
friction after, 203; menstru- 
ation no obstacle to, 116,205; 
method of taking, 203 ; reac- 
tion after, 203; temperature 
of, 204. 

Bath, sponge, method of tak- 
ing, in bed-room, 207, 208. 

Bath-tubs, varieties of, 207. 

Bath, warm, essential to clean- 
liness, 205. 



319 



320 



INDEX 



Bathing suit, 194. 

Bicycle-riding, 190. 

Biliousness. (See Liver.) 

Biology, sex instruction in 
connection with, 78, 149, 157. 

Bird, reproduction in, 88. 

Blood, changes in composition 
of, in girlhood, 8; condition 
of, in chlorosis, 127. 

Blood-vessels, changes in, at 
girlhood, 6; disturbance of 
menstruation due to change 
of pressure in, 129. 

Blushing, causes of, 7. 

Boldness, causes of, in girl- 
hood, 28. 

Bones, changes in, at girlhood, 
4; effect of posture upon, 5, 
248; effect of pressure upon, 
5, 10. 

Bowels, attention to, in dys- 
menorrhea, 123; health de- 
pendent upon, 300. 

Bowels, means of regulating, 
enemata, 304; exercise, 303; 
food, 302 ; habit, 301 ; sug- 
gestion, 304; water, 302. 

Brain capacity, development 
of, 24; effect of education 
upon, 25. 

Brain, growth of, 24; devel- 
opment of moral sense asso- 
ciated with, 56. 

Bromide of potash, for dys- 
menorrhea, 125 ; for head- 
ache, 292. 

Bronte, Charlotte and Emily, 
typical nostalgia in, 49. 

Brushes, hair, choice of, 212. 

Brushing the hair, benefit of, 
212, 214. 

Bunyan, John, religious ex- 
periences of, 48. 

Caffein in patent medicines, 
317- 

Carriage of body, correct man- 
ner of, 182; faults of, in 
school-girls, 5, 248. 



" Catching cold," 305. 

Cell division, first step in all 
reproduction, 79. 

Cervix of uterus, 91. 

Childhood, imitation promi- 
nent in, 26; life during, con- 
trolled by others, 55, 158; 
period of religious excite- 
ment at close of, 41 ; read- 
ing in, 257, 260; treatment 
of sex question in, 146. 

China, foot-binding in, 5, 181. 

Chlorosis, 127. 

Cholera morbus, 305. 

Chorea, 18. 

Cilia, in nostrils, 172; in ovi- 
duct, 92. 

Circulation of blood, reasons 
for feebleness of, in girl- 
hood, 7. 

Cleanliness, personal, signifi- 
cance of, 203; warm bath 
essential to, 205. 

Climate, changes of, in causa- 
tion of amenorrhea, 129; in 
relief of dysmenorrhea, 123. 

Cloaca, 88. 

Coal-tar remedies, uses and 
dangers of, 315, 317. 

Cocain in patent medicines, 
125, 316, 317. 

Coffee, habitual use of, injuri- 
ous in girlhood, 104, 169; 
medicinal use of, 124, 293, 
296. 

Cold-blooded animals, nature 
of, 89. 

Cold in chest, 306. 

Cold in head, 306. 

College, entrance conditions 
injurious to health in, 269; 
girl in delicate health at, 
274; necessity for care at 
menstrual periods while in, 
272; outside pressure injuri- 
ous to health at, 271 ; physi- 
cal conditions of life at, 
267 ; physical differences be- 
tween sexes affecting work 



INDEX' 



321 



at, 273; self-support at, 270. 

Color, perception of, in girl- 
hood, 17. 

Competition, strain of, in col- 
lege education, 271 ; in school 
education, 243. 

Complexion, constipation in- 
jurious to, 299; cosmetics in- 
jurious to, 210; daily care 
of, 209; excessive exposure 
injurious to, 211; soap bene- 
ficial to, 208. 

Conjugation, process of, in re- 
production, 81. 

Conscientiousness, morbid, in 
girlhood, 56; more marked 
in girl than boy, 244; work 
at college affected by, 272. 

Consciousness of self. (See 
Self-consciousness.) 

Constipation, amenorrhea as- 
sociated with, 131 ; careless- 
ness in regard to, 123, 
300 ; dysmenorrhea associated 
with, 123 ; frequency of, 297 ; 
gastric indigestion a cause 
of, 309; liver derangement a 
cause of, 309; mental effects 
of, 299; physical effects of, 
297; relief of, 300; skin af- 
fected by, 299. 

Contempt, as curefor profan- 
ity, 70. 

Conversion, religious, 45, 57. 

" Conviction of sin," 45. 

Cooking, effect of, on diges- 
tion, 166. 

Co-ordination, muscular, ac- 
quirment of, in dancing, 186, 
257 ; development of, in girl- 
hood, 4; lack of, a cause of 
stammering, 19. 
Corns, hard, 223; soft, 224. 

Corsets, objections to, 285; 

uses of, 287. 
Cosmetics, injurious effects of, 

210. 
Crandall Dr. Floyd M., on 



prevention of over-fatigue, 

3I3 - , . . „ 

Crayfish, reproduction in, 85. 
Curvature of spine, from 

faulty position in girlhood, 

5, 248. 

Dancing, as amusement, 256; 
as remedy for ungainly car- 
riage, 186. 

Debt, as form of dishonesty 
in girlhood, 69. 

Defecation, usual posture in, 
unsuitable, 301. 

Delivery, process of, in repro- 
duction, 94. 

Diarrhea, 304, 309. 

Digestion, external conditions 
affecting, 162. 

Digestive organs, changes in, 
at girlhood, 10; disturbance 
of, in chlorosis, 128. 

Disc, function of, in egg of 
bird, 88. 

Diseases, acute, amenorrhea 
in, 127, 135 ; discharge from 
ear in, 233 ; menorrhagia in,^_ 
135 ; reproductive organs af- 
fected by, 135. 

Diseases, chronic, amenorrhea 
in, 127. 

Dishonesty in girlhood, 67. 

Dog, reproduction in, 91. 

Doubt, religious, in girlhood, 
43- 

Dress, changes in, at girlhood, 
283; corsets in, 284; for 
cross-country walking, 188 ; 
garters in, 190, 289; shoes in, 
189, 288; stockings in, 189; 
woolen next skin in, 284. 

Driving, 190. 

Drowsiness, in migraine, 296 ; 
sign of over-fatigue, 310, 
311- 

Dust, atmospheric, correct 
method of removal of, 174; 
dangers from, 172, 308. 



322 



INDEX 



Dusters, 174. 

Dysmenorrhea, change of cli- 
mate in, 123 ; choice of spe- 
cialist in, 126; definition of, 
118; depreciation of general 
health in, 122 ; disease or 
displacement rare in, 119, 
291 ; influence of nervous 
system in, 119, 121, 123; lo- 
cal treatment rarely needed 
in, 121 ; opium dangerous in, 
124; patent remedies dan- 
gerous in, 125 ; permanent 
relief of, 121 ; regulation of 
bowels in, 123; rest in, 121; 
school-work modified in, 
122; sleep important in, 122; 
temporary relief in, 123; va- 
rieties of, 119. 

Ear, arrangement of, 230; 
daily care of, 229; discharge 
from, important, 233; for- 
eign body in, 232 ; method of 
syringing, 231 ; secretion of 
wax by glands in, 231 ; wa- 
ter in, 232. 

Earache, importance of, 233; 
relief of, 232. 

Earscoops, injury caused by, 
22,2. 

Education, effect of, upon de- 
veloping brain, 25 ; nervous 
system affected by strain in, 
243, 272 ; prominence of, in 
girlhood, 234. 

Egg-shell, formation of, 89. 

Egotism, presence of, in girl- 
hood, 27. 

Emotional nature, changes in, 
at puberty, 2; early develop- 
ment of, 25 ; excess of, in 
girlhood, 26, 38, 74, 243, 272; 
gratification of, in novel 
reading, 258; influence of, 
on early love affairs, 33, 36; 
religious feeling affected by, 
43 ; strain upon, from educa- 
tional pressure, 243, 272. 



Epidermis, necessity for re- 
moving outer layer of, 202, 
203, 205, 209. 

Epilepsy in girlhood, 21. 

Eruptions on face, 13, 210. 

Evening entertainments for 
school-girl, 253. 

Exercise, physical, changes in 
public opinion regarding, 
180; moderation of, during 
menstruation, 114; necessity 
of, in regulation of bowels, 
303; necessity of, to self- 
supporting girl, 277; objec- 
tions to, in chlorosis, 128. 

Exposure to cold or wet, 
amenorrhea caused by, 131 ; 
colds caused by, 306; diar- 
rhea caused by, 304. 

Extravagance in girlhood, 69. 

Eye, foreign body in, 229. 

Eyes, arrangement of light for, 
227; daily care of, 227. 

Eyesight, menstruation affect- 
ing, 121 ; reading through 
veil injurious to, 229; school- 
work injurious to, 249. 

Eye-strain, direct effects of, 
225; headache from, 226, 
291 ; reflex symptoms of, 
226; signs of, in school-girls, 
250. 

Fear, untruthfulness from, 63. 

Feet, coldness of, 7; daily care 
of, 222. 

Fencing, 257. 

Fertilization, process of, in re- 
production, 83. 

Finger-nails, daily care of, 220. 

Fish, reproduction in, 86. 

Flagella, function of, in re- 
production, 83. 

Fletcher, Mr. Horace, on man- 
ner of eating, 160. 

" Fletcherism," 160. 

Food, action of saliva upon, 
159, 162; action of teeth 
upon, 159; diarrhea caused 



INDEX 



3 2 3 



by improper, 305; digestion 
of, in stomach, 161 ; means 
of keeping bowels open, 302 ; 
necessity for care in, witb 
school-girl, 235 ; necessity for 
care in, with working-girl, 
276 ; relation of, to digestion, 
165; stimulus of, to gastric 
glands, 161. 

Foot, irritation of, 224. 

Form, growth in perception 
of, 17. 

Foster, Mr., on hatching of 
chick, 90. 

Friendship in girlhood, with 
girl of same age, 33 ; with 
older woman, 38, 278. 

Fruit, importance of, to health, 
165; in regulation of bowels, 
302. 

Garters, objections to, 190,289. 

Gastric indigestion, 309. 

Gastric juice, taste of food 
stimulus to, 161. 

Girl, school. (See School-girl.) 

Girl, self-supporting, amuse- 
ments of, 277; at college, 
270; health of, 276; rela- 
tions of, to other sex, 279; 
vacation for, 281. 

Girlhood, mental, disturbances 
in. (See Mental.) 

Girlhood, moral disturbances 
of. (See Moral.) 

Girlhood, physical disturb- 
ances of. (See Physical.) 

Golf, as amusement for self- 
supporting girl, 279; as 
means of physical exercise, 
194. 

Gregarious instinct, influence 
of, in clubs and societies, 32; 
in early love affairs, 35. 

Green mixture. (See Helo- 
nin.) 

Green sickness. (See Chloro- 
sis.) 

Gymnastic exercises, as amuse- 



ment for working girl, 277; 
cure of spinal curvature by, 
248; means of regulating 
bowels, 303; prevention of 
spinal curvature by, 6. 

Hair, beauty of, 211; daily 
care of, 212; dry shampoo 
of, 213; effect of illness 
upon, 214; washing of, 213; 
treatment of, after fever, 
215. 

Hands, coldness of, 7; daily 
care of, 220. 

Hangnails, 221. 

Harker, Mrs., incident from 
story by, 61. 

Headache, anemia a cause of, 
9, 291 ; constipation a cause 
of, 297; diminished circula- 
tion in brain during, 293 ; 
eye-strain a cause of, 290; 
gout a cause of, 19, 297; in- 
creased circulation in brain 
during, 292; indigestion a 
cause of, 291 ; insufficient 
food a cause of, 238; men- 
strual, in, 120, 291; relief 
of, 292. 

Headache remedies, contents 
of, 315; dangers of, 292, 315. 

Health, general, amenorrhea 
due to depreciation of, 127; 
attention to, in dysmenor- 
rhea, 122; care of, during 
menstruation, 245 ; care of, 
at puberty, 10; defective 
teeth in school children an 
injury to, 216; delay in first 
menstruation due to depre- 
ciation of, 101 ; deprecia- 
tion of, in chlorosis, 128; 
menorrhagia an injury to, 
132. 

Health of college-girl, care at 
menstrual periods necessary 
to, 272 ; injury to, from ef- 
forts at self-support, 270; 
injury to, from entrance con- 



3 2 4 



INDEX 



ditions, 268; injury to, from 
outside pressure, 271 ; physi- 
cal conditions favorable to, 
267; special care of neces- 
sary for delicate girl, 274. 

Health of school-girl, care of, 
at menstruation, 113; care 
of, at puberty, 245; injury to, 
from irregular and insuffi- 
cient meals, 236; injury to, 
from over- fatigue, 241 ; 
nourishing food essential to, 
235, 238; responsibility for, 
235 ; treatment of failure in, 
246. 

Health of self-supporting girl, 
276. 

Hearing, changes in, at girl- 
hood, 16. 

Heart, action of, disturbed, in 
chlorosis, 128; by coal-tar 
remedies, 315; in girlhood, 8. 

Heart, changes in, at girlhood, 
6. 

Helonin, compound mixture of, 
in dysmenorrhea, 125. 

Hematococcus, reproduction in, 
80. 

Heredity, influence of, on hys- 
teria, 50; on insanity, 51; 
on menstruation, 101, 107. 

Hero-worship, 40. 

Heteromita, reproduction in, 
81. 

Hockey, 195. 

Holmes, O. W., quotation 
from, 12. 

Home life in girlhood, 264. 

Home-sickness. (See Nostal- 
gia.) 

Howells, Mr., allusion to im- 
personal manner of eating. 
236. 

Human-being, reproduction in, 
96. 

Hyperopia in school girls, 250. 

Hysteria, 47. 

Ignorance, a factor in sexual 
temptation, 73, 77, 154, 156. 



Ill-temper, 59. 

Imagination, influence of, in 
girlhood, 60. 

Imitation, influence of, in 
early love affairs, 35 ; promi- 
nence of, in childhood, 26. 

Indigestion, definition of, 309; 
due to bad cooking, 166; 
due to eating between meals, 
164; due to exercise after 
meals, 163 ; due to eye-strain, 
164; due to irregular meals, 
162; forms of, 309; gastric, 
309; headache from, 391; 
intestinal, 309; treatment of, 
309. 

Individual life in girlhood, 
development of, 26; growth 
of, 32, 38; habits of lifetime 
formed at beginning of, 
158; influence of advance 
in, on moral nature, 56; in- 
fluence of advance in, on 
religious growth, 44. 

"Infancy, treatment of sex 
question in, 145. 

Ingrowing nail, 223. 

Innocence, not dependent on 
ignorance, 139. 

Insanity, 51. 

Insomnia, causes of, 200; im- 
portance of attention to, in 
prevention of insanity, 54; 
sign of over- fatigue, 310. 

Intellectual faculties, dispro- 
portion between develop- 
ment of, and emotional fac- 
ulties, 25, 66. 

Irritability of temper, sign of 
fatigue, 59, 115, 312. 

Jaw, changes in size of, 12, 
218. 

Kleptomania, 68. 

Lacing, tight, evils of. 10, 285. 
Let-alone method in sexual in- 
struction, 138. 



INDEX 



325 



Light, arrangement of, in 

reading, 227, 228. 
Lindsay, Judge,' on ignorance 

a cause of evil in sexual 

matters, 156. 
Liver, derangement of, 309. 
Locke, on correct posture in 

writing, 248. 
Long Day, the, on dangers 

surrounding working girl, 

155. 

Love affairs, early, 35, 254. 

Lungs, changes in, at girl- 
hood, 9. 

Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable 
Compound, percentage of 
alcohol in, 316. 

Mammalia. (See Mammals.) 

Mammals, nature of, 90; nour- 
ishment of young, 94; proc- 
ess of reproduction in, 91. 

Mammary gland, function of, 
94. 

Mania, 52. 

Manner, effect of self-con- 
sciousness upon, 28. 

Many-celled organisms, nature 
of, 84. 

Martineau, Miss, on the hair, 

. 214. 

Melancholia, 52. 

Menorrhagia, anemia a cause 
of, 133; causes of, 131, 133; 
definition of, 131 ; deprecia- 
tion of general health from, 
132; erroneous ideas con- 
nected with, 132; gradual es- 
tablishment of, in some 
cases, 132; importance of, 
131, 132; treatment of, 134. 

Menstrual period, athletic 
sports injurious during, 114, 
273; care of health during, 
109, 572, 282; cold bath 
during, 116, 205; college 
work moderated at, 273 ; 
duration of, 108; gen- 
eral disturbance at, no; 



habitual invalidism at, _ an 
evil, 112; headache during, 
in, 120, 291, 294; indigestion 
at, 117, 310; interval be- 
tween, 106; mental relaxa- 
tion at,- 115; protection from 
weather during, 116; regu- 
larity of, 107; regulation of 
bowels during, 117; school- 
work moderated at, 113, 245; 
vaginal douche after, objec- 
tionable, 117. 

Menstruation, age of first, 
100; amount of, 108; ces- 
sation of, during preg- 
nancy, 98, 108; delay in es- 
tablishment of, no cause for 
anxiety, 103 ; disturbance of, 
in chlorosis, 128; disturb- 
ance of, in insanity, 52, 53 ; 
general symptoms of, no; 
hygiene of, 109 ; influence of 
heredity upon, 101 ; influence 
of nervous system upon, 101, 
in, 114, 119, 127, 129; local 
symptoms of, no; mechan- 
ism of, 98; over-early, an 
evil, 102; ovulation asso- 
ciated with, 98, 100, no, 119, 
120. 

Menstruation, excessive. (See 
Menorrhagia.) 

Menstruation, painful. (See 
Dysmenorrhea.) 

Menstruation, suppression of. 
(See Amenorrhea.) 

Mental depression, constipa- 
tion a cause of, 299; eye- 
strain a cause of, 226 ; re- 
ligious feeling a cause of, 45, 
47- 

Mental disturbances in girl- 
hood: altruism, 27; boldness, 
28; early love affairs, 34; 
egotism, 27; excess of emo- ( 
tion, 25, 27, 33, 43, 243, 258, 
272; friendship, 33, 38; hero- 
worship, 40; hysteria, 50; in- 
sanity, 51 ; interest in person- 



326 



INDEX 



al appearance, 29; manage- 
ment of, 32, 46, 53 ; nostal- 
gia, 48; religious depression, 
47 ; religious excitement, 41 ; 
shyness, 28; social sense, 31; 
suicide, 52. 

Migraine, 19, 293 ; at menstrual 
periods, 120, 294. 

Moral disturbances in girlhood : 
absence of moral sense, 58; 
dishonesty, 67; exaggeration 
of moral sense, 56; failure 
of will-power, 71 ; imagina- 
tion affecting, 60; manage- 
ment of, 73; personal free- 
dom desired, 55 ; physical 
causes affecting, 58, 59; pro- 
fanity, 70; self-consciousness 
affecting, 55, 74; sexual ele- 
ment in, 721 untruthfulness, 
60. 

Moral sense in girlhood, devel- 
opment of, 55 ; latency of, 
66; loss of, 58, 59; per- 
version of, 56. 

Mouth-breathing, 172. 

Muscles, changes in, at girl- 
hood, 4; effect upon, of pos- 
ture in school-room, 248; 
means of strengthening ab- 
dominal, 303. 

Myopia, 249. 

" Naked cell," 83. 

Nearsightedness. (See Myo- 
pia.) 

Neatness, personal, develop- 
ment of, in girlhood, 29. 

Nerve processes, development 
of, in brain, 24. 

Nervous prostration. (See 
Neurasthenia.) 

Nervous system, amenorrhea 
due to disturbance of, 129 ; 
diarrhea due to disturbance 
of, 304; digestion influenced 
by, 164, 310; disturbances of, 
in girlhood, 18; dysmenor- 
rhea due to disturbance of, 



119; exhaustion of, from 
strain of education, 243, 274; 
menstruation influenced by, 
101, 108, in, 113, 119, 120, 
127, 129, 136, 241, 274, 291, 
294; ovulation causing dis- 
turbance of, no; religious 
excitement due to disturb- 
ance of, 147; sexual develop- 
ment causing disturbance of, 
105 ; signs of exhaustion in, 
242, 310; sleep affected by 
disturbance of, 200; tem- 
per influenced by condition 
of, 59- 

Neurasthenia in girlhood, 20. 

Nightingale, Florence, on tak- 
ing bath under difficulties, 
207. 

North American Indians, dis- 
tortion of skull by, 5. 

Nose, bleeding from, due to 
anemia, 8, 9, 134; in connec- 
tion with delayed menstrua- 
tion, 103. 

Nose-breathing, 171. 

Nostalgia, 48. 

Novel reading, effects of, in 
girlhood, 35, 257. 

Nuclei, union of two, essential 
to fertilization, 83. 

Nucleus, division of, the first 
stage in all reproduction, 79. 

Occupation, choice of, for girl 
on leaving school, 263 ; 
necessity of, in prevention of 
insanity, 53. 

Occupation out of doors, ad- 
vantages of, 178; in chloro- 
sis, 128. 

Oculist, difference between, and 
optician, 227; importance of 
consulting, 227. 

One-celled organisms, nature 
of, 79. 

Opium, dangers of, in dys- 
menorrhea, 124; dangers of, 
in migraine, 296; presence 



INDEX 



327 



of, in patent medicines, 125. 
169, 316. 

Optician, difference between, 
and oculist, 227. 

Ovary, first appearance of, 82; 
in human being, 96. 

Over- fatigue, at college, 268; 
at school, 241 ; neglect of 
caution at menstrual periods 
a cause of, 114, 273, 282; 
precaution against, 313; signs 
of, 242, 310; standard for, 
312. 

Oviduct, function of, 86. 

Ovulation, disturbance of ner- 
vous system accompanying, 
no; menstruation associated 
with, 98, 100, 106 ; process of, 
92. 

Ovum, appearance of, in bird, 
88; attachment of mammal- 
ian, to uterus, 93; delivery 
of mammalian, 94; develop- 
ment of mammalian, 95 ; es- 
sential element in reproduc- 
tion, 83; fertilization of, 83; 
first evidence of, in scale of 
life, 83 ; nourishment of 
mammalian, 93 ; protection 
of, in warm-blooded animals, 
89; segmentation of, 95. 



Paine's Celery Compound, 
percentage of alcohol in, 317. 

Parents, duty of, as regards 
personal liberty, 74; duty of, 
in sexual matters, 138, 152; 
duty of, to daughter's friend- 
ships, 34, 38; influence of, 
upon college life, 267; re- 
sponsibility of, for health at 
college, 271 ; responsibility 
of, for health at school, 246. 

Patent medicines, alcohol in, 
125, 169, 316; opium in, 125, 
169, 316. 

Pawlov, on digestion, 161, 162. 

Penis, function of, 92. 



Personal appearance, interest 
in, awakened in girlhood, 
29; injury to, by mouth- 
breathing, 173. 

Personal freedom, desire for, 
moral characteristic of girl- 
hood, 55, 74, 75, 252, 264 

Personal neatness, development 
of, in girlhood, 29. 

Personation of character in 
girlhood, 60. 

Peruna, percentage of alcohol 
in, 317. 

Phenacetin, 315, 316. 

Physical disturbances of girl- 
hood : anemia, 8 ; appetite, n ; 
change in arteries, 6; change 
in bones and muscles, 3 ; 
change in circulation of 
blood, 7; change in composi- 
tion of blood, 8; change in 
digestive organs, 10; change 
in hearing, 16; change in 
heart, 6; change in height, 
3 ; change in lungs, 9 ; 
change in nervous system, 
18 ; change in skin, 13 ; 
change in smell, 15; change 
in special senses, 15 ; change 
in teeth, 12; change in veins, 
8; change in vision, 17; 
change in voice, 15, 17; 
change in weight, 3 ; chloro- 
sis, 9, 127; chorea, 18; epi- 
lepsy, 21 ; management of, 
21; migraine, 19; neuras- 
thenia, 20; spinal curvature, 
5, 248; stammering, 19. 

Physician, advice of, in girl- 
hood, 22. 

Placenta, function of, 93. 

Pleasure, taste for, in girlhood, 
67, 266. 

Polygordius, reproduction in, 
84. 

Potter, Bishop, on our grand- 
mothers' manner of walking," 
181. 

Profanity in girlhood, 70. 



INDEX 



Proteid food, importance of, 
to health, 165. 

Ptyalin, 159. 

Puberty, care of health at, 103, 
245 ; establishment of, a 
strain on whole organism, 
2, 105; influence of reading 
upon, 261 ; school work at, 
245; sex instruction at, 140; 
sleep at, 104, 239; social re- 
lation of sexes changed at, 

254- 
Pure food and drug law, 317. 



Reading, as an amusement, 
257, 2yy; choice of, 257; evil 
not often acquired through, 
260; excess of emotional na- 
ture causing craving for ro- 
mance in, 258; formation of 
good taste in, 2 eg, 278; in- 
jurious effect of, too many 
childish books, 258. 

Rectum, 298. 

Religious phase in girlhood, 
awakening of, 42; depression 
due to, 47; excitement due 
to, 41, 48; forms of, 43; 
pledges of, 46; treatment of, 
48. 

Repression, evils of, in man- 
agement of emotional excess 
in girlhood, 36. 

Reproduction, advantage of 
studying laws governing, 78 ; 
essential elements in, 83; 
evils due to ignorance con- 
cerning laws of, yy; first 
stage of, same everywhere, 
96 ; lessons on anatomy and 
physiology of, in public 
schools, 157; presence of, 
throughout nature, yy, 78. 

Reproductive organs, imper- 
fect development of, chloro- 
sis associated with, 127 ; de- 
lay in first menstruation 
from. 102. 



Reproductive process, in ameba, 
79; in bird, 88; in crayfish, 
85 ; in dog, 91 ; in fish, 86 ; 
in frog, 87; in hematococ- 
cus, 80; in heteromita, 81.; in 
human being, yy, 96 ; in poly- 
gordius, 84; in vaucheria, 81 ; 
in vertebrates, 86. 

Respiration, through mouth, 
172; through nose, 171. 

Rest, inability to, sign of over- 
fatigue, 312; in treatment of 
dysmenorrhea, 121 ; in treat- 
ment of menorrhagia, 134. 

Reticence in girlhood, 32. 

Ribot, on early love affairs, 35. 

Ribs, constriction of, 10, 285; 
hardening of, 10. 

Ridicule, objections to, in 
management of girlhood, 63 ; 
untruthfulness from fear of, 
. 6 3, 

Riding on horse-back, 190. 

Rowing, 193. 

St. Vitus' Dance. (See Cho- 
rea.) 

Saliva, action of, on food, 159, 
162. 

Schenk's Seaweed Tonic, per- 
centage of alcohol in, 317. 

School, future changes in cur- 
riculum of, 324; injury to 
health from excessive prepa- 
ratory work at, 244; insom- 
nia from over- work at, 200; 
over-fatigue at, 241 ; respon- 
sibility of, for health of 
scholars, 235. 

School-girl, amusements of, 
252; astigmatism in, 250; 
chorea in, from over-stimula- 
tion, 18, 252; curvature of 
spine in, from faulty posture, 
5, 248; defective eyesight in, 
249; good food essential to 
health of, 235; health of, at 
puberty, 245 ; hyperopia in, 
250; insufficient breakfast an 



INDEX 



329 



injury to health of, 237; in- 
tercourse of, with other sex, 
254; menstruation a strain 
upon, 244 ; midday meal im- 
portant to health of, 236; 
morbid conscientiousness in, 
244; myopia in, 249; over- fa- 
tigue in, 242, 244; responsi- 
bility for health of, 235; 
sleep important to, 239, 253; 
social life of, 251; strain 
upon, from competition, 243; 
substantial lunch important 
to health of, 238; symptoms 
of eye-strain in, 250; symp- 
toms of over-fatigue in, 242; 
treatment of failure of 
health in, 246. 

School-work, modification of, 
necessary, during menstrual 
periods, 113; at puberty, 104, 
245; during treatment of 
dysmenorrhea, 113. 

Secretiveness, difference be- 
tween, and reticence, 31. 

Segmentation, process of, 95- 

Self-confidence in girlhood, 27. 

Self-consciousness in girlhood, 
blushing associated with, 7; 
chief factor in. development 
of girlhood, 74; expression 
of, 27; manner affected by, 
28; moral changes associated 
with, 55 ; religious growth in- 
fluenced by, 44; social life 
affected by, 252. 

Self -distrust in girlhood, 28. 

Self-respect, necessity for, in 
development of girlhood, 72. 

Seminal vesicles, nature of, 92. 

Sex, first evidence of, in proc- 
ess of reproduction, 81 ; in- 
fluence of, in early love af- 
fairs exaggerated, 35 ; influ- 
ence of, in mental awaken- 
ing, 27 ; moral disturbance 
associated with, J2,. 

Sexes, change in social rela- 
tions of, at puberty, 254; dif- 



ference between, in physical 
necessities, 273 ; relations be- 
tween, for girl living alone, 
279- 

Sexual development, influence 
of, on nervous system, 105. 

Sexual instruction, difficulties 
suggested in, 149; duties of 
parents in regard to, 152; 
frankness essential in, after 
early childhood, 146; in 
schools, 151, 157; lower 
forms of life useful in, 149; 
mother's influence all-impor- 
tant in, 140, 153; neglect of, 
up to this time, 138; pro- 
tection of working girl in, 
153, 157. 

Sexual knowledge, books as a 
source of, 260; evils of ig- 
norance in regard to, 139; 
evils of mystery in regard 
to, 78, 141 ; growing dissatis- 
faction with present treat- 
ment of, 138; mistaken atti- 
tude of mothers in regard to, 
139 ; misunderstanding of 
subject of, 142. 

Shampoo, method of, 213. 

Shell-gland, 87. 

Shoes, changes of fashion in, 
223, 288; for cross-country 
walking, 189; irritation of 
foot by, 224. 

Shyness, 28. 

Sick _ headache. (See Mi- 
graine.) 

Sitting, correct posture in, 183. 

Skates, essentials in, 192. 

Skating, 191. 

Skin, changes in, at girlhood, 
13; eruptions on, 13, 121, 
210, 299; means _ of keeping, 
in healthy condition, 202 ; re- 
lation between, and kidney, 
202, 298. 

Sleep, amount necessary to 
health, 196; disturbance of, 
from over- fatigue, 310; im- 



33<> 



INDEX 



portance of, to health of 
school-girl, 239, 253; in dys- 
menorrhea, 122; in nervous 
disorders, 20; position in, 
199; at puberty, 104. 

Sleeping-room, 197. 

Sleeplessness. (See Insom- 
nia.) 

Sleep-walking, 200. 

Smell, changes in sense of, at 
girlhood, 15. 

Soap, quality of, 206; use of, 
on face, 15, 208. 

Social life in girlhood, 31, 251. 

Social sense, development of, 
in girlhood, 31. 

Solitude, taste for, in girlhood, 
3i- 

Special sense organs, changes 
in, at girlhood, 15. 

Specialist, advisability of con- 
sulting, in menstrual difficul- 
ties, 125, 130; choice of, 126. 

Sperm cells, 83. 

Spermary, first evidence of, 82. 

Spermiduct, function of, 86. 

Stammering, 19. 

Standing, correct posture in, 
183. 

Stimulants, alcoholic, evils of, 
104, 124, 169. 

Stockings, choice of, in walk- 
ing, 189. 

Stomach, digestion of food in, 
161. 

Student lamp, 228. 

Suggestion, influence of, in 
constipation, 304; influence 
of, in early love affairs, 35, 
37- 

Suicide, 52. 

Sweat glands, abundance of, 
on face, 209; action of, 201; 
stimulation of, by bath, 202. 

Sweeping, correct method of, 
175; evils due to wrong 
method of, 175. 

Sweets, injurious effects of. 
166. 



Swimming, 194. 

Tactile perception, develop- 
ment of, in girlhood, 13, 17. 

Tea, habitual use of, injurious 
in girlhood, 104, 169; medic- 
inal use of, 124, 293. 

Teeth, action of, on food, 159; 
causes of decay in, 216; daily 
care of, 216; difficulty of ac- 
commodating wisdom, 12, 218 ; 
importance of, to health, 216; 
injury to health of school- 
children from defective, 216; 
inspection of, by dentist, 217 ; 
mechanical treatment of, 
crooked, 218; relation of, to 
size of jaw, 12, 218; wisdom, 
12, 218. 

Temperament, factor in dis- 
turbances of girlhood, 73; re- 
lation of, to fastidiousness, 
29; relation of, to self-con- 
sciousness, 28. 

Tennis, as amusement for self- 
supporting girl, 279; as 
physical exercise, 195. 

Testis, function of, 85 ; posi- 
tion of, in dog, 92. 

Theater, benefits of, to school- 
girl, 253; to self-supporting 
girl, 279. 

Tilt, Dr., on amenorrhea due 
to change of scene or cli- 
mate, 130. 

Tobler, Miss, on menstrual dis- 
comfort, no. 

Toe-nails, daily care of, 222. 

Treves, Sir Frederick, on cor- 
sets, 287. 

Tuberculosis of lungs, a cause 
of amenorrhea, 128. 



Untruthfulness in girlhood, de- 
liberate, 65; from fear, 63; 
from imagination, 60; from 
vanity, 64. 

Uterus, function of, 91 ; imper- 
fect development of blood- 



INDEX 



33i 



vessels in, a cause of menor- 
rhagia, 134; roughening of 
mucous membrane of, a 
cause of menorrhagia, 134. 

Vacation, necessity of, to self- 
supporting girl, 271, 281. 

Vagina, function of, 92. 

Vaginal discharge, significance 
of, in dysmenorrhea, 125. 

Vaginal douche, objections to 
use of, in young girls, 117. 

Vaucheria, reproduction in, 81. 

Veils, reading through, injuri- 
ous to eyesight, 229. 

Veins, changes in, at girl- 
hood, 8. 

Ventilation, importance of, 
176; methods of, 177. 

Vertebrates, peculiarity of re- 
production in, 86. 

Vibrissae, 172. 

Vision, changes in, at girlhood, 
17- 

Voice, change of, in girlhood, 
15. 



Walking, correct manner of, 
184; cross-country, 187; dress 
for, 188; essentials to enjoy- 
ment of, 186; fatigue in, 188; 
ungainly, 184. 

Warm-blooded animals, nature 
of, 89. 

Water, importance of, as arti- 
cle of diet, 167; method of 
removing from ear, 232. 

Will-power, failure of, in girl- 
hood, 71. 

Wisdom-teeth, 12, 218. 

Woolen, next skin, 283, 307. 

Woolson, Miss, incident from 
story by, 58. 

Working girl, changed condi- 
tions for, 155 ; dangers sur- 
rounding, 155 ; ignorance of 
laws of reproduction an in- 
jury to, 154; necessity for 
caution at menstrual periods 
by, 282 ; reading for, 277 ; re- 
lations of, to other sex, 279; 
sex instruction, protection to, 
157; vacation for, 281. 



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